BURMA SECTARIAN VIOLENCE CONTINUES

BURMA: SECTARIAN VIOLENCE BETWEEN
BUDDHIST RAKHINES AND MUSLIM ROHINGYAS

www.voanews.com - Authorities in Burma say they are working to restore calm to western Rakhine state after a week of sectarian violence left nearly 100 people dead, destroyed thousands of homes and displaced 30,000 people, the vast majority of them Muslim. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has expressed concern the instability could spread. Burma officials on Tuesday said thousands of security officers are trying to restore order in western Rakhine state, following clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. 
While hundreds of Buddhists were displaced, and dozens of their homes destroyed, more than 27,000 Muslims were pushed out and some 4,000 lost their homes. Entire Muslim villages were burned to the ground. It is still not clear what started the latest round of fighting. Many Rohingya fled the coast of Rakhine state by boat and made their way to crowded camps in the capital Sittwe. 

Satellite photos published by Human Rights Watch showed a Muslim sector in the town of Kyaukpyu levelled by what appeared to be methodical and premeditated arson - more than 600 homes and nearly 200 houseboats were destroyed. The Rohingya, who are Muslim, are not recognized as citizens by the Myanmar government, nor are they are among the 135 official ethnic groups in the country formerly known as Burma. Deeply impoverished and effectively stateless, the Rohingya are viewed by the Buddhist majority as unwelcome immigrants who have crossed over illegally from neighbouring Bangladesh.
“It is very disturbing to see that the conflict has worsened,” Zaw Nay Aung, a democracy activist said. “The Burmese, the majority of whom are Buddhists, are Islamophobic.” He said anti-Islamic pamphlets have lately been circulating in western Myanmar, stirring up fear and anger among the Buddhists there.

Violence has continued this week in western Myanmar, as an apparent campaign of ethnic cleansing is being carried out against the Muslim minority group known as the Rohingya. There have been widespread reports of razed and burning homes, gunfights and many Rohingya fleeing in small wooden boat. The Rohingya in Burma number around 800,000 but are not recognized as citizens and have few legal rights. Most people in Burma consider them illegal migrants and refer to them as Bengalis. The U.N. considers them one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. We should see our real identity, beyond the body, to accept everyone as part of our family.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

In spiritual training, perhaps the single most important point to understand is that you are not your body. You are the soul within it. The soul is completely transcendental to the body, and does not come under the same designations that we give to the body. It does not belong to a certain family name or ethnic group. The soul is not Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc. It is also not American, Indian, Russian, Chinese, Pakistani, or anything else. According to the Upanishads it is also not happy, sad, frustrated or content, nor does it imagine anything but what it ought to imagine. It does not take birth, grow, change or die. ... There is a saying that anything that is temporary or changes is not the eternal truth. We have to go beyond what is temporary to get a glimpse of what is real and true. And the soul exists in that field of eternity that is completely beyond the mind, body and senses.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Thirty-one Days to Salvation on the Vedic Path”
“Day Twelve: You Are Not Your Body”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com  -  http://www.stephenknapp.info/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/thirtyone_days_to_salvation_on_the_vedic_path.htm

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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SANDY HITS COAST, FLOODS NEW YORK

HURRICANE SANDY, OBAMA DECLARES
'MAJOR DISASTERS' IN NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY

http://online.wsj.com - Millions of people along the U.S. East Coast awoke without power Tuesday, as Superstorm Sandy brought powerful winds, rains, floods and snow to the mid-Atlantic states and Northeast. The mega-storm's center plowed through Pennsylvania early Tuesday after carving a harrowing path of destruction overnight, killing at least 17 people in seven states and cutting power to more than 6 million homes. In New Jersey, where the superstorm came ashore, hundreds of people were being evacuated after a levee broke early Tuesday. The post-tropical cyclone still packed 65-mile-an-hour winds at 5 a.m., when it was located about 90 miles west of Philadelphia, Penn. The storm was moving toward the west-northwest at 15 miles an hour, according to the National Weather Service. President Barack Obama on Tuesday morning signed major disaster declarations for New Jersey and New York. Thousands of people were left without power in New York. One of the city's major hospitals was forced to evacuate patients late Monday when its backup power system failed. New York City's three major airports remained closed.

The impact was mounting. As night fell Monday, a record breaking 13-foot surge of seawater hit New York City, flooding New York's Brooklyn-Battery tunnel, a major traffic artery, as well as portions of the city's subway system. Subway service could be crippled for “at least a week,” the head of the municipal transportation authority said late Monday. Sandy was relabeled from a hurricane to a posttropical cyclone on Monday evening. Earlier, its classification as a Category 1 storm, the least powerful category of hurricane, was deceiving. Scientists say the storm has an unusually low atmospheric pressure near its center, an important measure of a storm's strength. The National Weather Service warned of potential flooding in coastal areas and damage well inland. The storm shut down the federal government for a second straight day Tuesday. The storm left a trail of death, and the toll is expected to mount; at least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm. A fire destroyed at least 50 homes in a flooded neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. A fire department spokesman said more than 190 firefighters were at the blaze in the Breezy Point section.

As Superstorm Sandy churned slowly inland, millions along the U.S. East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, and huge swaths of New York City were unusually dark and abandoned. At least 17 people were killed in seven states. New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart closed for a second day. The storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of New York's extensive subway system. Overnight, whole neighborhoods disappeared into darkness as power was cut. The World Trade Center site was a glowing ghost near the tip of Lower Manhattan. Climate change caused by human unscrupulousness, their insatiable industries and global meat consumption, affects the whole planet without distinction between rich and poor countries.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The environmental community rightly recognizes global warming as one of the gravest threats to the planet. The expected consequences include coastal flooding, increases in extreme weather, spreading disease, and mass extinctions. Yet by focusing entirely on carbon dioxide emissions, major environmental organizations have failed to account for published data showing that other gases are the main culprits behind the global warming we see today. ... Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year. And this source is on the rise. About 85% of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and while a single cow releases a relatively small amount of methane, the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock animals worldwide is enormous. ... Simply by going vegetarian we can eliminate one of the major sources of emissions of methane, the greenhouse gas responsible for almost half of the global warming impacting the planet today.

Dr. Noam Mohr :
“What They Didn’t Tell You In Copenhagen”
VINA - Vaishnava Internet News Agency
http://wadcconference.com/bio_mohr.aspx
http://kirbymtn.blogspot.com/2007/01/noam-mohr-on-meat-eating-and.html
http://www.vina.cc/news/index.php/General/What-They-Didn-t-Tell-You-In-Copenhagen.html

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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ANOTHER VICTIM OF BULLYING NOW IN ARGENTINA

ARGENTINIAN GIRL VICTIM OF
SCHOOL VIOLENCE IS PARAPLEGIC

www.diariouno.com.ar - A girl from the province of Corrientes, Argentina, became paraplegic after suffering a case of "bullying" in her school performed by one schoolmate who "harassed" her steadily as her mother remarked. Claudia Jesi, told that her daughter  of 11 years old named Abril, suffered a stroke between the fourth and fifth vertebrae during a physical education class in the Normal School in the town of Mercedes. She was pushed by another child. 
The victim had to be admitted at the "John Paul II" pediatric hospital in the provincial capital of Corrientes and lot of rehabilitation will be required to improve her condition during at least six months. However, it is not known yet whether she can recover. "Abril lost sensation in the legs because she suddenly fell, and all the weight was against the column, if it had not raised her head she would broke the skull," said the girl's mother. The girl who hit and dropped her been was bothering and pushing Abril for some time. 

According to Abril's mother, the other girl "was upset" because her daughter "was the Queen of Spring in her class, and she is nice and very dear." As she fell she lost her breath, so the teacher made her the first practices to make her breathe again. "She was under observation in the hospital and then she was resting in my house, but some days later she lost all the feeling. They did the MRI. The bone has a hit between the fourth and fifth vertebrae and has up to six months of rehabilitation," said the mother. 
"The school authorities are concerned. The issue of having a paraplegic girl due another class mate actions obviously involves us all. This is a case of bullying, but I never thought it would come to that. Now Abril is not walking, she must be diapered like a baby, it's hard ... but you have to face reality," said the grieving mother. School harassment, better known as "bullying" is becoming more common in schools around the world and even teenagers who had to suffer this kind of situations reached the edge of killed themselves.

Abril, an Argentinian girl of 11 years old, was attacked by a class mate during a physical education class, and after a push she badly fell and suffered a blow to the vertebrae. It is not known if she can walk again. The relatives alleged that she suffered harassment for some time, and the aggression was because she is nice and provoked the envy of other girls. She has "at least six months of rehabilitation" but doctors can not be sure if she will recover from paralysis. Marcela Fernández, from the Pablo Nicolás Association, an organization that works in preventing school violence, said that "sometimes such violent attacks happen because we are dealing with ciberbullyng: children are harassed each other for hours through social networks and when they met the violence becomes exaggerated". Another sad event. Say NO to Bullying!

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. This alone is the ultimate purpose of life for every single living entity.

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

Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - Śrī Gopinatha Gaudiya Matha

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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ANOTHER VICTIM OF BULLYING NOW IN ARGENTINA

CHURCH HIT IN NIGERIA SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK

10 KILLED, 100 WOUNDED
IN NIGERIA CHURCH BOMBING

www.bbc.co.uk - At least ten people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide bombing during Mass at a Catholic church in northern Nigeria, officials say. An explosive-laden vehicle drove into the church and detonated its load, ripping a hole in the wall and roof. The attack happened in Kaduna, which has been targeted by Islamist militant group Boko Haram in the recent past. 
President Goodluck Jonathan promised to “redouble” his government's efforts to tackle terrorism and violence. He called the attack part of an “unfortunate and unacceptable trend that threatens the peace and stability of our nation”. 
A spokesman for the local governor has called for calm, pleading with people on local radio not to retaliate. Authorities said that Christian youths attacked a vehicle that had come to rescue survivors after the attack, smashing one of the windows. 

Unconfirmed reports said at least two people were killed in reprisal attacks by Christians after the bombing. No group has said it carried out the bombing. The attack happened at St Rita's church in the Malali neighbourhood of the city. The vehicle had been stopped at the security gate outside the church. The driver initially reversed, but then careered straight through the church wall and detonated the bomb. Members of the choir are thought to be among the dead and injured. 
The church was surrounded by soldiers and police after the blast, and ambulances were taking the injured to hospital. 
Nigeria's north has a large Muslim majority whereas the south is most populated by Christians and those who follow traditional religions.  Kaduna is on the dividing line between the two areas. The BBC's Will Ross in Kaduna says many people have come to the city in recent months in search of sanctuary from violence in other parts of northern Nigeria.

A suicide bomber rammed an SUV loaded with explosives into a Catholic church holding Mass on Sunday in northern Nigeria. The church attack left at least seven people dead in addition to the bomber, while at least three people were killed and more than 100 others were wounded in reprisal violence in the city. Islamist militant group Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow the government and impose the sharia, an extreme form of Islamic law. The group has said it carried out previous attacks on churches in Kaduna state in June. At least 50 people were killed in the bombings and the reprisals that followed. Religious intolerance should always be avoided, it is the source of hatred and sectarian violence against other manifestations of faith toward God.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Dharmists (those who follow Sanatana-dharma, the Vedic path) often welcome other religions, as in the way we have seen so many that have settled in India and made it their home, such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, the Parsis, Jews, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Baha’i, etc. While Christians and Muslims, on the other hand, have a vast history of destroying any other culture or people in whichever land they invaded. This is a profound difference that history cannot deny. Intolerance kills.  So, we can see the liberality, kindness and openness of Dharmists, yet in any Muslim country, they allow but one religion to flourish, and any other religion must practice undercover, or they are persecuted and driven out or even thrown into prison, just as we are seeing many Hindus and Christians being driven out of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, etc.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Why All Religions Are Not the Same”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com  -  http://www.stephenknapp.info/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/why_all_religions_are_not_the_same.htm

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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THE GANGES: ALL PLAN, LITTLE ACTION

CLEANING THE GANGES: LOT OF
PLANNING BUT LITTLE ACTION TAKEN

www.atimes.com - River Ganga, or the Ganges - the most sacred river for Hindus and India's national river - remains filthy despite whopping sums being pumped into the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) for the last 26 years, a damning report has revealed. “Since 1986, there is not even a 1% improvement in the river's condition despite millions being spent under the GAP,” concludes the study by Dr. Sandeep Kumar Behera, associate director (river basins and biodiversity), World Wildlife Fund (India). According to the scholar, who is also a member of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh-led National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), the problem has only worsened over the years. Over 50 drains today carry sewage to the Ganga and Yamuna rivers at northern Allahabad compared to 13 before 1986, states the report. In addition, the 84 bathing ghats (banks) sandwiched between two tributaries - Assi and Varuna - are now “huge sewage drains.” GAP, an environmental initiative to clean up the Ganges fully sponsored by the central government started in 1979.

GAP Phase II was initiated in 1993 and covered 59 towns located along the river in the five states of Uttarakhand, UP, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. Over the years, the action plan has come in for flak from environmentalists and dubbed “a colossal failure” due to corruption, lack of technical expertise and a lack of environmental planning amongst the myriad government agencies handling the scheme. An audit in 2006 discovered that the project had met “only 39 per cent of its target of sewage treatment.” In short, the GAP remains all plan, no action. The magnitude of the problem can be gauged from the fact that the Ganga Basin hosts over 400 million people. Over 2 million people ritually swim and bathe in the river daily. Over 1.3 billion liters of sewage, it is estimated, is dumped into the river daily. Over 50 tanneries, 10 textile mills and several other industrial companies shove 37 million gallons per day waste, and only have to pay a small fee for it. Shockingly, there is no legal provision or punitive measure against dumping of waste into the river.

Originating in the Himalayas, the Ganges travels across 2,250 kilometers through India to the Bay of Bengal before merging with the Indian Ocean. It is ranked among the top five most polluted rivers of the world with its pollution threatening not only humans, but also more than 140 fish species, 90 amphibian species and the endangered Ganges River Dolphin. A raft of diseases plague the river's polluted waters, a lethal cocktail of garbage waste, sewage, human and livestock corpses and toxic chemicals. In 2011, spiritual guru Swami Nigamanand undertook a fast unto death demanding an end to illegal sand mining in the Ganga, especially in Haridwar where the Kumbh Mela, a mass Hindu pilgrimage, takes place. The governments, both in Uttarakhand and at the center, ignored his pleas. The swami breathed his last after fasting for 115 days. Perhaps the Indian government is waiting for the second Swami's death to be spurred in to the required action. We need to do something more for helping Mother Ganga!

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The Ganges is 2525 kilometers long. Along its course, 27 major towns dump 902 million liters of sewage into it each day. Added to this are all those human bodies consigned to this holy river. Despite this heavy burden of pollutants, the Ganges has for millennia been regarded as incorruptible. How can this be? Several scientists have recorded the effects of this river’s “magical” cleansing properties: Ganges water does not putrefy, even after long periods of storage. River water begins to putrefy when lack of oxygen promotes the growth of anaerobic bacteria, which produce the tell-tale smell of stale water. ... D.S. Bhargava, an Indian environmental engineer measured the Ganges’ remarkable self-cleansing properties: “Bhargava’s calculations, taken from an exhaustive three-year study of the Ganga, show that it is able to reduce BOD [biochemical oxygen demand] levels much faster than in other rivers.” Quantitatively, the Ganges seems to clean up suspended wastes 15 to 20 times faster than other rivers. If the material properties of this unbelievable river are mind boggling, I now wonder what precious spiritual gifts are waiting for a seeker of divinity?

Śrīla Radhanath Swami Mahārāja :
“Lessons from Mother Ganges”
http://www.radhanath-swami.net/lessons-from-mother-ganges/lessons-from-mother-ganges
http://www.radhanath-swami.net/  -  http://radhanathswami.info

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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LIFE AFTER DEATH? DOCTOR SAYS HE'S BEEN THERE

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE OF A
NEUROSURGEON TOLD IN NEWSWEEK

www.wset.com - Is there life after death?  One neurosurgeon with ties to Lynchburg is trying to answer that.  He tells his story in the pages of Newsweek that's on stands right now. 
Dr. Eben Alexander said four years ago, he was in a coma. Doctors at Lynchburg General, where he worked, determined he had a very rare bacterial meningitis. He explained that there is no scientific explanation for the fact that while his body lay in a coma, his mind was alive and well - seeing what he believes is heaven. He says: 
“As a neurosurgeon, I did not believe in the phenomenon of near-death experiences. ... I understand what happens to the brain when people are near death, and I had always believed there were good scientific explanations for the heavenly out-of-body journeys described by those who narrowly escaped death. 
In the fall of 2008, however, after seven days in a coma during which the human part of my brain, the neocortex, was inactivated, I experienced something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death.” 

“Then, on the morning of my seventh day in the hospital, as my doctors weighed whether to discontinue treatment, my eyes popped open. ‘You have nothing to fear.’ ‘There is nothing you can do wrong.’ The message flooded me with a vast and crazy sensation of relief. ‘You have nothing to fear.’ ‘There is nothing you can do wrong.’ The message flooded me with a vast and crazy sensation of relief. There is no scientific explanation for the fact that while my body lay in coma, my mind - my conscious, inner self - was alive and well. 
While the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity by the bacteria that had attacked them, my brain-free consciousness journeyed to another, larger dimension of the universe: a dimension I’d never dreamed existed and which the old, pre-coma me would have been more than happy to explain was a simple impossibility. But that dimension - in rough outline, the same one described by countless subjects of near-death experiences and other mystical states - is there,” explains Dr Alexander.

For seven days, Dr. Alexander lay in a deep coma. “I’m not the first person to have discovered evidence that consciousness exists beyond the body. Brief, wonderful glimpses of this realm are as old as human history. But as far as I know, no one before me has ever traveled to this dimension (a) while their cerebral cortex was completely shut down, and (b) while their body was under minute medical observation, as mine was for the full seven days of my coma,” says Dr. Alexander. While in coma, at the same time, he “journeyed to another, larger dimension of the universe, a dimension I'd never dreamed existed.” Dr. Alexander has no doubt about the existence of that dimension, as he explains “what I saw and learned there has placed me quite literally in a new world: a world where we are much more than our brains and bodies, and where death is not the end of consciousness but rather a chapter in a vast, and incalculably positive, journey.” The sages explain that apart from the physical body, there are subtle elements assembled together surrounding the individual soul, the small particle of spirit.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Maya is divided into twenty four categories: the five great elements ... the five tan-matras, the ten knowledge-acquiring and working senses, and mind, heart, intelligence and false-ego. Altogether these are the twenty four categories of matter. The conscious individual spirit soul is the twenty fifth category in the body, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supersoul, in the twenty-sixth. ... The sthula-sarira (gross body) consists of the five gross elements (panca-maha-bhuta), five sense objects (panca-tan-matra) and the ten senses. The linga-sarira (subtle body) consists of the mind, heart, intelligence and false-ego. The individual spirit false thinks of this material body in terms of “I” and “mine”. In this way he does not understand how his own welfare is best served. The soul, a tiny fragment of spirit, exists in a dimension beyond time, space, and the other features of the material world. Even though it is a tiny particle, the soul is all-pervading within the material body. As a tiny drop of sandal-paste cools the entire body, so the soul, situated in one place within the material body, is aware of the pleasure and pains of the body as a whole.

Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thākura :
Jaiva-dharma (The Universal Religion)
Chapter 16: “Eternal Religion and
Sambandha, Abhidheya and Prayojana”
http://philosophy.ru/library/asiatica/indica/authors/bhaktivinoda/jd/03.html

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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DUSSEHRA CELEBRATED ACROSS INDIA

INDIA EXPLODES INTO DUSSEHRA
CELEBRATIONS, RAVANA EFFIGIES BURNT

www.todaysthv.com - Dussehra festival, symbolising the triumph of good over evil is being celebrated across the India these days. The day is also celebrated as Vijay Dashmi. Towering effigies of 10-headed demon king Ravana, his son Meghnad and brother Kumbhakaran crackled in fiery splendour marking the triumph of good over evil as gusto and fervour marked Dussehra festivities across the country. As it is a celebration of victory of good over evil, the occasion of Dussehra also symbolises the triumph of warrior Goddess Durga over buffalo demon Mahishasura. 
A string of rituals will take place throughout the day. Lakhs of devotees are thronging various temples and puja pandals to offer prayers to “Goddess Durga”. Amid beating of drums, devotees, dancing frenziedly, also bid adieu to Goddess Durga as she returned to her celestial abode. The three day Durga Puja will culminate with the immersion of Goddess Durga Idols. 

Thousands of devotees from far off places are expected to attend the famous Kullu Dussehra festivities, organised by the district administration. Festivities are also high in different parts of South India. In Karnataka thousands of people flock every year to witness the famous Mysore Dussehra. In Kolkata, thousands of people descended on the streets and elsewhere to admire the pandals on Maha Nabami. In Odisha, lakhs of devotees are participating in community pujas being organised at various places across the state on the occasion of Dussehra.
The festival commemorating the victor of good over Evil and the five day ritualistic offering to goddess Durga is best witnessed in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack where over 200 puja pandals have been erected. President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, UPA President Sonia Gandhi has greeted the nation on the auspicious occasion of Dussehra or Vijaya Dashami.

India celebrated Dussehra, the festivity of victory of good over evil, by burning the effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhkarana and son Meghanada. Leading politicians attended the Dussehra celebration in Delhi, with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi performing the aarti of Lord Rama and Laxmana. Crowds thronged popular ‘Ramlila’ venues to catch the final episode of the dramatic re-enactment of the life of Lord Rama. Dussehra also symbolises the triumph of warrior Goddess Durga over buffalo demon Mahishasura. From politicians to people from the world of cinema, celebrities wrote their messages on micro-blogging site Twitter all through the day: “Happy Dusshera everyone!”.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Dusshera, also known as Vijaya Dashami, is celebrated on the tenth day of Navaratri. This signifies the victory of Lord Rama over the demon Ravana, which is often observed with special celebrations and the burning of the effigy of Ravana. On that day there is often a huge bonfire in which people burn the effigy of the demon Ravana, which also represents the destruction of the false ego. Thus, it is a festival which shows the process by which humanity can reach the perception of God. It incorporates the means and worship by which one can purify themselves of the ten sins, meaning the sins committed by the ten active senses. ... What this shows is that all aspects of the Vedic process, whether we are familiar with them or not, are ultimately meant to be a vehicle by which we can transcend the mind, senses, and the temporary material world and enter into the Supreme Reality wherein we can reestablish our lost relationship with the Supreme Being.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Hindu Festivals”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/hindu_festivals.htm
http://www.stephen-knapp.com  -  http://www.stephenknapp.info/

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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MONSTER ENERGY DRINK LINKED TO FIVE DEATHS

WHEN CAFFEINE KILLS: MONSTER
ENERGY DRINKS UNDER SCRUTINY

http://vitals.nbcnews.com - The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports that five people died and one survived a heart attack after consuming energy drinks. It is not yet clear whether the drinks actually caused - or even contributed to - those adverse events, said FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess. “So far there’s been no causal link,” Burgess said. “There could have been other products involved. We don’t know that yet and that’s why we’re taking this seriously and looking into it.” 
The six reports were entered into the FDA’s system voluntary reporting system over an eight year period, with the first surfacing in 2004. This system doesn’t necessarily show that a food or drug caused a problem, the two events could be coincidental. Last week, the parents of Anais Fournier of Hagerstown, Md., sued the company that makes Monster Energy Drinks, saying caffeine in the drinks killed the 14-year-old girl.

The autopsy report attributed her death to “cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity.” She had consumed two 24-oz. Monster Energy drinks in a 24-hour period, the last drink just hours prior to her death. “The two drinks combined are believed to have contained approximately 480 milligrams of known caffeine, the equivalent of almost 14 cans of Coca-Cola,” her lawyer said in a statement. Monster energy drinks contain a long list of ingredients, including sugar, ginseng, amino acids such as taurine and L-carnitine, salt, guarana seed and B vitamins. 
The Center for Science in the Public Interest says the drinks contain about 10 mg of caffeine per ounce of drink, which would mean 240 mg of caffeine in a 24-ounce energy drink - not much more than two stong cups of coffee. How much caffeine is too much? Some people who take in 500 to 600 mg a day of caffeine may suffer insomnia, nervousness, restlessness, a fast heartbeat and stomach upset.

Reports of five deaths and a heart attack linked to Monster Energy drinks should bolster efforts to get the Food & Drug Administration (USA) to regulate caffeinated energy drinks. The combination of caffeine and natural ingredients that also act as stimulants in the drinks, can be risky for people with undiagnosed heart conditions. Emergency room visits involving energy drinks increased tenfold between 2005 and 2009, especially when the energy drinks are mixed with alcohol or drugs. On its website, Red Bull says “there is no scientifically substantiated reason why Red Bull Energy Drink should not, like any other drink, be mixed with alcohol.” However, health experts explains that energy drinks “mask the effects of alcohol”: People drink more because they are highly stimulated.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Intoxication is one of the more obvious sinful activities because so many people develop addictions to it. Whether it be alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, or caffeine, addiction to intoxication is very common. Considering the fact that our senses are impossible to satisfy, it is no surprise that many take to intoxication in an attempt to break free of the senses. Instead of trying to escape the senses, the Vedas tell us to purify them through practicing devotional service to God, or Bhakti yoga. ... Success in spiritual life requires training and austerities from us just like in any other discipline. In order to attend college, we had to suffer through twelve years of grade school. Practicing Medicine is not allowed until one undergoes the long training and passes many exams. Olympic athletes train rigorously for four years in order to perform at their peak.  Similarly, we have to train ourselves now so that we may think of God at the time of our death.

Krishna’s Mercy - Jai Shri Krishna :
“The Four Regulative Principles”
Written by Keshava - Posted on Feb 15, 2009
http://www.krishnasmercy.org/dotnetnuke/
http://krishnasmercy.wordpress.com/2009/02/15/the-four-regulative-principles/

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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ARMSTRONG LOSES TITLES, BANNED FOR LIFE

LANCE ARMSTRONG IS STRIPPED
OF HIS 7 TOUR DE FRANCE TITLES

www.nytimes.com - The International Cycling Union announced Monday that it would not appeal the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s ruling to bar Lance Armstrong for life from Olympic sports for doping and for playing an instrumental role in the team-organized doping on his Tour de France-winning cycling squads. That decision to waive the right to take Armstrong’s case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in sports, formally stripped Armstrong of the seven Tour titles he won from 1999 to 2005. “Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling; he deserves to be forgotten in cycling,” Pat McQuaid, the president of the cycling union, known as U.C.I., said in a news conference in Switzerland. McQuaid said he was “sickened” by the facts in the 202-page report the antidoping agency made public two weeks ago regarding the evidence it had in the Armstrong case, and called it mind-boggling how former teammates like the five-time national time-trial champion David Zabriskie were pushed to use performance-enhancing drugs. 

McQuaid said that Armstrong’s teams had a “win at all costs” attitude fueled by “deceit, intimidation, coercion and evasion,” and that all of the evidence was there to prove that Armstrong doped. He added that he was sorry the cycling union had not caught Armstrong and his teammates “red handed” so he could have thrown them out of the sport. Armstrong, who has vehemently denied ever doping, declined to comment Monday. His biography on his Twitter page had been changed to no longer say he is the seven-time Tour de France winner. 
The antidoping agency applauded the cycling union’s acceptance of the penalties the agency gave Armstrong in August. The cycling union’s announcement delivered yet another devastating blow to Armstrong, who has unceremoniously fallen from grace within the past two weeks. Also, the International Olympic Committee is reviewing Armstrong’s case and will probably strip him of the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Cycling’s governing body has stripped famed U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles and banned him for life. The International Cycling Union has ratified the sanctions handed down in August by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which stripped Armstrong of the titles he won from 1999 to 2005.  “A lot of these guys made a lot of money out of their cheating. A lot have admitted they cheated and apologized to their family and friends, but they have not apologized to the U.C.I. or the sport,” said Pat McQuaid, the president of the cycling union. “The greatest offense is the culture of lies and corruption several people created in the small world of cycling to protect its million-dollar man”, said Shannon J. Owens, a Sports commentator. In this material world, the conditioned souls have four defects, one of which is Vipralipsa which is the tendency to deceive or cheat.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The conditioned soul has four defects: (1) bhrama (‘the tendency to error’), (2) pramada (‘inattention’), (3) karanapatava (‘the inadequacy of the senses’) and (4) vipralipsa (‘the desire to deceive’).  Any conditioned soul has these defects.  Bhrama means the tendency to think something that is true to be false and vice versa.  ... The word Pramada means ‘inattention.’ Even when the senses do their job, the mind is not entirely attentive and so makes further errors.  Karanapatava means the incapacity of the senses to properly perceive anything.  And the last fault is quite devastating; it is Vipralipsa, ‘the desire to deceive.’ ... The four flaws, i.e., the desire to deceive, inattentiveness, the inadequacy of the senses, and the tendency to error, affect the judgment of every human being. Even the greatest scholars cannot free themselves of these defects when it comes to assessing transcedence.

Śrīla Bhakti Promode Puri Mahārāja :
“Śrī Guru Pranali - Siddha Pranali”
A conversation with a sannyasa disciple,
Durga Puja, Sept. 28, 1998, Gopinatha Gaudiya Matha,
Cakra Tirtha, Jagannatha Puri.
Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - http://bvml.org/SBPPG/sgp-sp.html

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TOP COP RESIGNS DRUG TRAFFICKING ACCUSATIONS

CHIEF OF POLICE, SANTA FE ARGENTINA
RESIGNED AFTER DRUG TRAFFICKING TIES

http://m24digital.com - Santa Fe province (Argentina) former police chief Hugo Tognoli was sought nationwide, having absconded for two days after resign for his alleged links with drug traffickers in the province of Santa Fe. 
The former police chief Tognoli remained fugitive during 48 hours from justice after the federal judge in Instruction 3 of Rosario, Carlos Vera Barros, waged on Friday an arrest warrant for the alleged link with drug traffickers of this province, judicial sources said. During the weekend rumors circulated in the province about a possible “agreed surrender” of the former police chief through his lawyer, Eduardo Jauchen. 
Finally, last night, who until Friday was the provincial police chief surrendered to justice at the headquarters of the Ministry of Security. He is accused of providing information to a local drug lord to avoid arrest, and of arranging drug sales for traffickers in Santa Fe province. 

Tognoli’s alleged involvement in the drug business was discovered during an Airport Police investigation into a local human-trafficking and prostitution network. 
In a wire-tapped phone call, the proprietor of a brothel asked High Commissioner Oscar Ledesma how to go about arranging the sale of cocaine. Ledesma responded in a text message “30,000 (per month) directly to Tognoli.” At the time, Tognoli was not yet chief of police, but rather head of the Directorate for Prevention and Control of Addictions. 
The ex-Chief of Police is also believed to have provided information to a drug lord, who was being followed by unmarked cars on 25th November 2011; because of the tipoff, the suspect managed to escape. 
Tognoli served, among other positions, the former head of the Dangerous Drugs Directorate. I had assumed as provincial police chief in December 2011.

Chief of Police Santa Fe province (Argentina) Hugo Tognoli resigned from his post after being investigated for collecting bribes to allow drug sales and supposed links to a drug lord, to whom, it is said, Tognoli has helped to avoid the justice. The court ordered his arrest and called for his home and office to be searched. The ex cop denied the allegations and declared to be “at the disposal of justice,” but he ran away. So a Federal Judge sent out an international arrest warrant on drug-trafficking charges. Finally, last night, he surrendered to the Justice. In this age of Kali is impossible to prevent the activities of administrative and judicial officials from being contaminated by corruption, bribery, blackmail and nepotism.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The king or the administrator is the representative of the Lord to look after the management of the Lord’s will. He must therefore be a recognized person like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira or Parīkṣit. Such kings have full responsibility and knowledge from authorities about the administration of the world. But at times, due to the influence of the ignorance mode of material nature (tamo-guṇa), the lowest of the material modes, kings and administrators come into power without knowledge and responsibility, and such foolish administrators live like animals for the sake of their own personal interest. The result is that the whole atmosphere becomes surcharged with anarchy and vicious elements. Nepotism, bribery, cheating, aggression and, therefore, famine, epidemic, war and similar other disturbing features become prominent in human society.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)
SB 1.10.25 - Canto 1: “Creation”
Chapter 10: “Departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa for Dvārakā”
Verse 25  -  http://vedabase.com/en/sb/1/10/25

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