EXPLOSION HITS MOSQUE IN CENTRAL DAMASCUS

DAMASCUS MOSQUE BLAST KILLS 42
INCLUDING SENIOR SYRIAN IMAM

www.reuters.com - An explosion at a mosque in the Syrian capital on Thursday killed at least 42 people, including a senior pro-government Muslim cleric, and wounded 84, the Syrian health ministry said. State television and anti-government activists earlier had reported 15 dead. The television said a "terrorist suicide blast" hit the Iman Mosque in central Damascus, and Mohammed al-Buti, imam of the ancient Ummayyad Mosque, was among the dead. 
"The death toll from the suicide bombing of the Iman Mosque in Damascus is 42 martyrs and 84 wounded," the health ministry said later in a statement. While attacks in the capital during Syria's two-year-long rebellion have become almost commonplace, an attack on a mosque was deeply shocking to both sides in the conflict. It was unclear if the explosion was caused by a car bomb or a mortar shell.

Buti, a government-appointed cleric reviled by the Syrian opposition movement, delivered the official weekly Friday mosque sermons on state television. In one of his televised speeches, Buti described those fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad as 'scum'. He also used his position to call on Syrians to join the armed forces and help Assad defeat his rivals in the rebellion. 
Rebel spokesman Loay Maqdad said units associated with the opposition's Free Syrian Army were not behind the attack. "We in the Free Syrian Army do not take any responsibility for this operation. We do not do these types of suicide bombings and we do not target mosques," he told Al Arabiya television. Video released by Syria's al-Ikhbariya channel showed dozens of limp bodies lying on the bloodied carpet of the mosque, as emergency workers rushed in to give survivors first aid. Mangled limbs lay among the wreckage.

A suicide bombing tore through a mosque in the Syrian capital Thursday, killing a top Sunni Muslim preacher and longtime supporter of President Bashar Assad along with at least 41 other people. More than 80 others were wounded. Mohammad Saed Ramadan al-Bouti, 84, a cleric and religious scholar who appeared often on TV, was delivering a religious lecture at al-Eman Mosque in central Damascus' district of al-Mazraa when a suicide bomber detonated himself from inside the mosque. Suicide bombings blamed on Islamic extremists fighting with the rebels have become common in Syria's 2-year-old civil war. It is crucial to avoid sectarian dogmas and opinions and the unholy tendency to commit violence against others.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

There are Eighteen Obstacles in the way of this exquisite consummation of bhava which belongs to Vraja.  ... The Sixth Obstacle has the forms of cruelty and violence. This is the demon Aghasura. It is possible for love to suffer gradual decay by the absence of kindness for all animate beings. This must be so in as much as kindness can never be a different principle from love for Krishna. There is no substantive difference between love for Krishna and kindness to individual souls. ... The Eleventh Obstacle has the form of intra-communal discord.  It is comparable to the wild forest-fire. The disposition bred by narrow sectarianism rendering its victim unable to recognize as Vaishnava one who does to assume the external marks of the theistic community, multiples the obstacles on the path of attainment of the bone fide Guru and the actual companionship of the true devotees.

Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj:
“Sri Krishna : The Supreme Godhead”
“Chapter 3: The Highest Worship of Sri Krishna”
Bhakti Vigyan Nityananda Book Trust
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission - http://www.purimaharaj.com/

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

RISING RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGION: WORLD STUDY

32% GLOBAL POPULATION EXPERIENCES
INCREASE OF RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGIOUS

Washington (AFP / CNN) - A third of the world - about 2.2 billion people - live in nations where restrictions on religion have substantially increased, according to a study just released by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.  The study also shows increasing polarization: intolerant countries are growing more hostile to religious freedom, while tolerant countries are growing more accommodating. Brian Grim, the primary researcher, explains, “When you have one set of restrictions in place, then it’s easier to add on.”  The report culled data from 198 countries and territories from 2006 through 2009. Egypt, France, Algeria, Uganda and Malaysia were among the countries with the greatest increases in governmental religious restrictions; among those with the greatest easing of restrictions were Greece, Togo, Nicaragua, Republic of Macedonia and Guinea-Bissau. North Korea, one of the most repressive regimes, could not be included in the report for lack of reliable data.

The report also measured social hostility toward religious groups. Although religious freedom is scarcest in the Middle East and North Africa, Europe was found to have the largest proportion of countries with increased social hostilities related to religion. Muslims and Christians were reported to have suffered the most harassment based on their religion. Jews, representing less than one percent of the world’s people, were harassed in 75 countries.  Overall, about 70 percent of the world lives in nations with significant religious repression - a figure that matched that of a similar study Pew undertook two years ago. But the nations in which religious repression is increasing tend to be populous, the study’s authors noted.

Religious tolerance is in retreat and religious violence and abuse are growing globally.  More than 2.2 billion people of the world’s total population of 6.9 billion, live in countries where either government restrictions on religion or social hostilities involving religion rose substantially.  In general, these countries already had high or very high levels of restrictions or hostilities towards religions, according to a new study.   Krishna and Srimad-Bhagavatam teach us that tolerance is necessary not only to know that we are different from the body and mind, but also to see others as our sisters and brothers.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Q:- What are the favourable situations for chanting the name of the Lord ?
A:- At first we shall be freed from enviousness to the Vaishnavas because it causes misfortune in this material world as well as in the transcendental world. This material world is the testing place. We find here only sorrow. Tolerance, feeling insignificant and praising others are helpful for chanting the Lord’s name.
 
Q:-What quality should we possess to serve the Lord ?
A:- The things that are favourable in the line of serving the Lord are tolerance, feeling insignificant and praising others. Unless one has tolerance, one can not have strong faith in the Lord. Tolerance is the ornament of a Vaishnava. One can not praise another person unless one feels oneself to be inferior. So these are the attributes helpful in the line of serving the Lord.

Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj:
“A Brief History of Sri Srimad B.V. Puri Goswami Maharaj”
“Questions and Answers”
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission - http://www.purimaharaj.com/