11 APRIL, LIBERATION DAY

YESTERDAY EUROPE REMEMBERED NAZI CAMP
VICTIMS DAY - HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS LIBERATED

(RT International) - Yesterday, Europe was remembering the estimated 18 million people who passed through Nazi concentration camps. April 11 marks the liberation of Buchenwald, one of the most notorious camps in Nazi Germany. 65 years after the defeat of the Nazis, survivors of the Holocaust are remembering the horrors of genocide, and their liberation. On April 11, 1945, allied forces freed over 20,000 prisoners from Buchenwald. For many the day is a chance to highlight anti-semitism and political extremism. There were more than 14,000 Nazi concentration camps in Germany and on the occupied territories. About 18 million people passed through the Nazi concentration camps during WWII, a fifth of them children. On average, a prisoner lasted for less than year, many dying from starvation or torture. Millions were systematically murdered. The process of death was perfected to the smallest detail. Before being killed, people were exploited until their last breath. Even after their death, prisoners continued bringing profit as their hair, ashes, and bones were used in manufacturing.

It was only afterwards that the world realized what was happening behind its barbed wire fences. Half a century later, monuments to the victims of Nazi concentration camps have appeared all over the world, dozens of museums have been built on sites where prisoners were held. The aim is to make sure people always remember the horrors of the fascist regime and its deadly ideology. Now the fascist ideology is officially banned in Russia but some of its variations like racism and nationalism still attract supporters among the country’s youth. In Germany, the number of neo-Nazis is also on the increase. Last year, more than one in twenty young men voted for a far-right party.


People of this yuga are ignorant of God's laws. They kill defenseless animals without any restriction and maintain slaughterhouses. As a reaction, from time to time, there is a great war in which countless people are slaughtered even more cruelly than the animals.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In this age of Kali the propensity for mercy is almost nil. Consequently there is always fighting and wars between men and nations. Men do not understand that because they unrestrictedly kill so many animals, they also must be slaughtered like animals in big wars. ... Sometimes during war, soldiers keep their enemies in concentration camps and kill them in very cruel ways. These are reactions brought about by unrestricted animal-killing in the slaughterhouse and by hunters in the forest.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam”
Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 29 - Verse 28.

HOLDING GOALS HELP WITH HEALTHY AGING

HAVING A HIGHER PURPOSE IN LIFE
REDUCES RISK OF DEATH OF OLDER ADULTS

CHICAGO (www.healthfinder.gov ) - Possessing a greater purpose in life is associated with lower mortality rates among older adults according to a new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago. According to Patricia A. Boyle, Ph.D., and colleagues, purpose in life, the psychological tendency to derive meaning from life's experiences and to possess a sense of intentionality and goal directedness that guides behavior, protect against adverse health outcomes. The researchers assessed this quality in more than 900 community-dwelling older adults who were participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project. Participants' purpose in life was measured by their level of agreement with statements such as, "I feel good when I think of what I have done in the past and what I hope to do in the future" and "I have a sense of direction and purpose in life." The biological basis of the association is unknown, but may result from the positive effects purpose of life is reported to have on immune function and blood vessel health, the authors suggest.

The result may have public health implications. "In particular, these findings may provide a new treatment target for interventions aimed at enhancing health and well-being in older adults. Purpose in life is a potentially modifiable factor that may be increased via specific behavioral strategies that help older persons identify personally meaningful activities and engage in goal-directed behaviors," the researchers said. The study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine, is available online at www.psychosomaticmedicine.org.


Having goals helps a healthy old age, but this is not the real purpose of life. If it is true that a purpose in life reduces the risks of diseases, it is also true that keeping the goal of chanting the name of the Lord reduces the diseased condition of the spiritual being conditioned by a material body.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Srila Bhakti Vinode Thakur has written in his commentary Amrit-pravaha Bhasya: “Desire with the purpose of one’s own enjoyments is called kama.” … Self-interest is the criterion of conditioned souls to determine what is dear and what is not dear. For the reason of a wrong criterion of self-interest, conditioned souls are burning in the forest fire of this material world. Clashing is inevitable where there are many centers of interest. There will be no clashing provided that love for the Absolute Reality Sri Krishna becomes the centre of interest.

Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaja :
“Harikatha and Vaishanva Aparadha”
Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math
http://www.vina.cc/stories/PHILOSOPHICAL/2004/4/vaishnava.aparadha.1.html

POLISH PRESIDENT KILLED IN PLANE CRASH

POLISH PRESIDENT LECH KACZYNSKI AND
POLITICAL ELITE KILLED IN PLANE CRASH

WARSAW (Sky News) - Polish president Lech Kaczynski and other senior officials are among dozens of people killed when their plane crashed in western Russia. The 60-year-old Polish president and his wife Maria were killed in a plane crash this morning, according to Russian officials. They were on board a flight which crashed at 10.56 Moscow time near Smolensk airport. The Army chief of staff, General Franciszek Gagor, National Bank President Slawomir Skrzypek and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremoer were also on the flight. Russian media is reporting that all 132 passengers were killed. The Kaczynski’s were travelling with several senior government figures on a trip to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn forest massacre, in which thousands of Poles were executed by Soviet secret police. They were leading the delegation to Russia to visit the place where Soviet secret police killed 22,000 Polish prisoners of war 70 years ago. Russia never formally apologized for the murders, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's attendance at a memorial ceremony days ago was seen as a reconciliation goodwill gesture.


Footage showed the plane broken into numerous pieces, including engines and a huge chunk of the plane's vertical stabilizer caked in mud, strewn over a large deforested area. Pilot error is suspected as a cause in the crash, according to Russia's news agency RIA Novosti. Polish citizens have started leaving floral and candle tributes near the presidential palace in Poland's capital, Warsaw, while official flags were lowered to half-mast. A new presidential election date must be announced within two weeks and an election held within the following two months.


The material body is destined to die, whether you are president or unemployed, death is inevitable. In the human form of life we should take the opportunity to put an end to birth, death, old age and disease by chanting Hare Krishna maha mantra and understanding our eternal relationship with God.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Your birth is extraordinary and it is after so many births you could get the human life. In this human life don't waste one minute without sankirtan. One minute. Always you must engage. Utilize your time; utilize your maximum time in the service of the Lord. Because life is not real. It is not real. Now it is - what will happen after a second or minute we cannot say. Because always there are dangers. … If you say Krishna Nama, if you repeat Krishna Nama then all your dangers will go away. … You will never be afraid of anything, even death.

Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj :
Lecture: “Navada Bhakti”
Slovenia, summer 1998.
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission.

SHANTYTOWN BURIED BY LANDSLIDE

BRAZIL BATTLES TO RESCUE HUNDREDS
BURIED AS NEW LANDSLIDE HITS RIO SLUM

BRAZIL (BBC News) - More people were feared dead after being buried under the latest landslide to hit a slum in Rio de Janeiro's metropolitan area, authorities said yesterday. Rescue teams in Brazil are working for a second night to find 200 people believed to have been buried in their homes by a massive landslide. More than 50 houses were engulfed as mud and rubble poured into the Morro do Bumba shantytown near Rio de Janeiro. About 200 people were feared due to mudslides near Rio de Janeiro, officials said Thursday, a new tragedy after massive floods two days before. If confirmed, the deaths would raise the toll sharply from the 175 people already known to have died this week in slides triggered by record rains. The fresh mudslide hit Niteroi, one of the worst affected parts of the greater Rio de Janeiro area. 4,000 families had been made homeless and 10,000 houses remained at risk, mostly in the slums

“Some 200 people may be buried, but it is not clear, there could be more,” fire Chief Pedro Machado said. Twenty-five people, including eight young children, were pulled out alive on after hours buried in mud and debris. “In our experience, it's an instant death” for those caught in their homes at the time, the official said. The shanty town was built on a mountain of trash that accumulated for decades, making the ground unstable and vulnerable to giving way. The soil is still saturated and local officials are warning that there could be further landslides. Brazil's national weather service, Inmet, said the rainfall has been the heaviest in 48 years.


Instead of adopting a simple living, high thinking lifestyle, modern society compels poor people to live close to larger cities, even at the risk of being an unsafe place. Many “favelas” or shantytowns in Rio are built on top of trash and disused landfill, which makes them prone to massive landslides.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Although the Vedic literature may give a brief warning about what will happen in the Age of Kali … we also need to see the full implications and how that description will expand as the Age of Kali progresses. … This also refers to the expanding gap between the haves and the have-nots. … We have to live according to Vedic Dharma and the principle of simple living and high thinking. If we can understand the strategy of the banks and governments that will be used to control or even rob the citizens of their money and property, then we also need to be able to plan how best to persevere in order to keep spiritual knowledge available for the general well-being of the masses.

Stephen Knapp
“The Vedic Prophecies”
“Slavery to Banks: A Vedic Prophecy”
hhttp://www.stephen-knapp.com
http://www.vina.cc/news/index.php/

ARRESTED FOR CHECKING IN A DEAD MAN

TWO WOMEN TRIED TO TAKE CORPSE
ON FLIGHT FROM LIVERPOOL TO BERLIN

LONDON (USA Today) - Two German women were seized by police for trying to check in a dead man on a weekend flight from Liverpool, U.K. to Berlin. They now face possible charges for suspicion of failing to give notification of death' of a 91-year-old man", according to U.K. police, who are investigating whether the women were conspiring to avoid high repatriation costs with an unusual tactic. The women apparently brought the man to the Liverpool's John Lennon airport in a taxi and then tried to check him in for a flight to Berlin on Easyjet. The man was seated in a wheelchair and had sunglasses on. The women claim they thought he was sleeping. An airport worker said he became aware of the situation after Mr Jarant's face touched his while he was trying to help Mr Jarant out of the taxi and into a wheelchair, immediately suspected that he was in fact dead. The pair, who are German nationals living in Oldham, have denied Mr Jarant had died 24 hours earlier and that they had transported his body by taxi to the airport, and they also deny the accusations of trying to smuggle a dead relative onto a plane, by saying Mr Jarant was alive when they left home.

They claimed they had no idea the man was dead. "Willi had Alzheimer's and had not been in good health and wanted to go back to Germany to die," Mr Jarant's daughter, told the Daily Mail. "He was alive in the taxi and when we arrived at the airport ... he must have died as he was wheeled into the airport." she said. The pair have not been charged. They have been released on bail until June 1, pending a full investigation.

Due to false identification of oneself with the body and the material world, one is entrapped by māyā. We should understand that one is not the material body but the owner of the body. Due to a lack of knowledge of self, these women were kept very attached to deceased relative's body, even after the soul had already left.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

We transmigrate from one body to another in bodies that are products of our illusion, but as spirit souls we always exist separately from material, conditional life. ... A house or car is always different from its owner, but because of attachment the conditioned soul thinks it to be identical with him. A car or house is actually made of material elements; as long as the material elements combine together properly, the car or house exists, and when they are disassembled the house or the car is disassembled. The spirit soul, however, always remains as he is.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam”
Purport in Canto 7 - Chapter 2 - Verse 42.

FLOODS KILL 95 IN RIO

DEADLY FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES
PARALYSE RIO DE JANEIRO, 95 DEAD

RIO DE JANEIRO (UKPA) - The heaviest rains in Rio de Janeiro's history have triggered landslides that killed at least 95 people as rising water turned roads into rivers and paralysed Brazil's second- destruction through shantytowns. Concrete and wooden homes were crushed and hurtled downhill, only to bury other structures. A representative for the Rio de Janeiro fire department, which was coordinating rescue efforts, said 95 people were known dead and 44 more had been hospitalized. Most of the victims were from Rio's hillside shantytowns whose homes were buried under tonnes of mud and rubble. “We expect the death toll to rise,” said the official. In some parts of Rio, abandoned cars were partially submerged while others were stalled on local roads with motorists stranded inside. Civil defence officials said most of the casualties were the result of landslides in the hillside slums that ring the hilly metropolitan area of 16 million people.

Unprecedented floods in Rio de Janeiro which caused landslides overnight have forced the governor to declare a state of emergency. Traffic was halted and airports in Rio de Janeiro were shut down. “It is not advisable for people to leave their homes. Potential mudslides threatened at least 2,000 homes after eight inches (20 centimetres) of rain fell,” said Eduardo Paes, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor. Thousands of motorists were stranded overnight on highways blocked by rising floodwaters on Tuesday. The torrential rains, considered the strongest in the last 30 years, also caused power outage and the suspension of transport services, a situation that has forced to suspend classes in schools and in some workplaces.


Yesterday, flash floods and landslides killed around a hundred people and Brazil's president, Lula da Silva, said residents should "ask God" for the rain to stop. "We can only ask Him to stop the rain in Rio de Janeiro so we can go on with life in the city," he said. This has been the smartest thing a president has recently said in public.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

By the order and wrath of Indra, the master of all the higher subtle elements, heavy rain began to fall. And so thunder, hail, and rain simultaneously attacked the whole of Vraja Mandala. ... So the helpless - the women, children, and animals of Vrindavana - had no alternative but to take refuge of Krishna. They all came to Krishna for relief. They cried, “O Krishna! Now what are we to do? ... How can we live? Please save us!” ... Seeing this, Krishna had much pity for them. ... At that time, with only one hand Krishna lifted up the Govardhana Mountain. ... And holding up that great mountain, Krishna gave protection to all those who were living in Gokula.

Śrīla Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Mahārāja :
“The Loving Search for the Lost Servant”
Fourth Chapter: ‘Lord of the Cows’.
Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - www.bvml.org/SBRSM/

MAOIST REBELS KILL 70 TROOPS IN EASTERN INDIA

INDIAN MAOISTS ATTACK AGAIN AND KILL 73 IN
PARAMILITARY POLICEMEN BLOODY MASSACRE

RAIPUR, India (AP) - In the biggest attack by Maoists in Chhattisgarh, at least 70 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been killed in the ambush and several have been injured critically near Chintalnar in Dantewada district about 450 km south of the state capital. The attack took place while the forces consisting of around 120 personnel were returning to their base camp on Tuesday morning when the red guerillas ambushed the troopers of 62nd battalion. Reinforcement have been rushed to the spot from neighbouring districts and choppers pressed into rescue operations. “Fighting is still carrying on in the area, and we're having great difficulty getting news from there,” said authorities from the state capital of Raipur. In New Delhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters the attacks showed “the brutality and the savagery” that the rebels were capable of. The rebels, also known as Naxals or Naxalites, after Naxalbari, the village in West Bengal state where their movement was born in 1967, is a far-left-radical communist party is inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

The Maoists have tapped into the rural poor's growing anger at being left out of the country's economic gains and are now present in 20 of the country's 28 states. They have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters. The Naxalites have been waging a war against the Indian Government, using armed young male and female recruits from the villages, claiming to protect poor villages and landless people. In the past few months, the Indian government has cracked down on the rebels, saying it was ready to discuss all their demands, but only if they gave up violence. About 2,000 people - including police, militants and civilians - have been killed in violence over the past few years.


No matter if the dead people belong to the security forces, paramilitary army, or Maoist rebels; violence is always terrible; and besides, in every war many innocent civilians also die. It is very difficult to find peace if we do not ask for the grace of God and respect His divine instructions to resolve this and all conflicts among human beings.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Life is to know the Supreme Lord, see the Supreme Lord, hear the Supreme Lord, sing the glories of the Lord, sing the glories of the sage. ... Peace cannot be enjoyed without the association of a sadhu. Without the blessings of the sadhu, without the blessings of the sage we cannot enjoy peace, we cannot enjoy happiness. Only if you will be repeating of Divine Name you could become happy. All throughout the life you will be happy. You will be happy. If we hear one, we are chanting so many times namam, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. They will be purified. They will never born again. They will enjoy the internal nectar. And we will be happy.

Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj :
Lecture given in Pula, Croatia - 2.7.1999.
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission.

CHRISTIANS WORLDWIDE CELEBRATE EASTER

CHRIST'S RESURRECTION MARKS
RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY CELEBRATION

JERUSALEM - Yesterday, millions of Christians worldwide were celebrating Easter Sunday, the most important day of these Christian holidays. It is celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, which his followers believe occurred on the third day after his death by crucifixion some time around A.D. 30. This year, Christianity's main branches - Protestantism, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy - celebrate Easter on the same day. That only happens about once every two or three years, depending on a complex calculation derived from different calendars used by the Western and Eastern churches. Easter celebrations in Jerusalem began with a sunrise service at the Garden Tomb, as pilgrims from around the world sang hymns of the resurrection. The garden and ancient tomb carved into a rock are reminiscent of biblical accounts of the place where Jesus was buried. The faithful faced the empty tomb and proclaimed, "The Lord is raised!"

A mass was celebrated at the Jerusalem's cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the site where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. Fragrant incense rose above the ancient, stone tomb of Jesus into a golden rotunda. It depicts a burst of light, symbolizing the glory of the resurrection. Incense filled the air as Western and Orthodox pilgrims packed into the labyrinthine maze of chapels and crypts lit by thousands of candles as services were held at the grotto where Jesus is believed to have risen from the dead. Women in shawls knelt to kiss the stone where Jesus's body is believed to have been prepared for burial as bearded monks in long black robes watched over visitors making their way through Christianity's holiest site.


For millions of Christians, Easter celebrates the day when Jesus Christ, by His love and sacrifice, could conquer death. Jesus showed us the way to escape from this world and have everlasting life. In other words, He taught how to transcend the material existence and attain the state beyond all miseries.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that I am servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna. so if one loves Krishna, he must love Lord Jesus also. And if one perfectly loves Jesus he must love Krishna too. If he says, “Why shall I love Krishna? I shall love Jesus,” then he has no knowledge. And if one says, “Why shall I love Jesus? I shall love Krishna”, then he has no knowledge either. If one understands Krishna, then he will understand Jesus. If one understands Jesus, you'll understand Krishna too.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Room conversation with Allen Ginsberg”
May 12, 1969 - Columbus - Ohio
Srila Prabhupada's works 2.0.

PERU LANDSLIDES ENGULFS VILLAGE

LANDSLIDES CAUSED BY HEAVY RAINS
HIT TWO TOWNS IN NORTHEASTERN PERU

LIMA, Peru (BBC) - At least 29 people have been killed in north-eastern Peru after heavy rains sparked a mudslide that engulfed a small village, officials have said. The deadly mudslide was the second in as many days in Peru. On Thursday, five people were killed in the town of Cancejos. The mudslide struck the village in the Huanuco region. At least another 25 people are reportedly missing and 120 homes had been damaged or destroyed, the officials added. Civil defence chief Hipolito Cruchaga said emergency teams were at the scene, and that aid was being provided to those who had been made homeless. Mr Cruchaga said 50 people had also been injured in the latest mudslide. The BBC's Dan Collyns in Lima says days of heavy rains caused a small lake higher up a nearby mountain to overflow into a ravine. The AFP news agency quoted reports from the village as saying hundreds of people might still be missing. Mr Cruchaga said tents, blankets and food supplies had begun arriving in Huanuco for those hit by the latest mudslide. It was unclear how many people were in the village when disaster struck.

Today rescue crews, firefighters, military and police are still working in search of survivors. Heavy rains since December in the Andean nation triggered the natural disasters. In the past few months the Peruvian Andes have experienced one of the heaviest rainy seasons in decades, and this incident was triggered by a small lake higher up a mountain that overflowed into a ravine, according to officials. Some meteorologists say it is due to the cyclical El Nino weather pattern, while others attribute the downpours to climate change.


Another entire village has completely vanished, many people were buried. Authorities say the "El Nino" weather phenomenon is responsible for the tragedy, but they do not want to admit that soil erosion is due to irresponsible logging and reforestation neglect, which destroy the natural balance.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In Lord's creation there are so many trees, varieties of trees. These trees always satisfy all other creatures. They give food to all; food to the eyes, food to the ears, food to tongue and food to nose, food to touch. We touch with this body. So, these trees they supply, because they are the life of all life. Without the trees we cannot survive. We can get oxygen, first thing that will help us to live. If there is no oxygen you cannot live. You cannot survive. ... The tree always gives shelter to us. But, we are not grateful to remember the trees and worship the trees. You see, in India all the big, big trees they worship.

Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj :
Lecture: “Navada Bhakti”
Slovenia, summer 1998.
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission.

IS COLA BAD FOR SPERM?

DRINKING TOO MUCH COLA
COULD LOWER MEN'S SPERM COUNT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who drink about a quart or more of cola every day could be causing harm to their sperm, results of a Danish study hint. On average, these men's sperm counts were almost 30 percent lower than in men who didn't drink cola. While most of the sperm counts would still be considered normal by the World Health Organization, men with fewer sperm generally have a higher risk of being infertile. The link is unlikely to be due to caffeine, the researchers say, because coffee did not have the same effect, even though its caffeine content is higher. Instead, other ingredients in the beverage or an unhealthy lifestyle could be involved. “It's important to note that the men who drank a lot of cola were also different in many other ways,” Dr. Tina Kold Jensen of Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark, told Reuters Health.

Because Danish youth has been upping their consumption of caffeine-containing soft drinks over the last decades, the researchers decided to study how this might affect their reproductive health. More than 2,500 young men were included in their study. Those who didn't drink cola had better sperm quality - averaging 50 million sperm per milliliter semen - and tended to have a healthier lifestyle. In contrast, the 93 men who drank more than one liter (about 34 ounces) a day had only 35 million sperm per milliliter. They also ate more fast foods, and less fruit and vegetables. When looking at caffeine from other sources, such as coffee and tea, the decrease in sperm quality was much less pronounced, the researchers note in the American Journal of Epidemiology.


The secret of health lies in the preservation of the seminal energy, because in this precious energy resides the vital force. Having an unhealthy lifestyle, without restriction of the sense enjoyment, drinking too much cola, consuming lot of fast food and very little fruits and vegetables, it is not surprising to get fewer sperm and even the risk of being infertile.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The path of avidyā, or advancement of material knowledge for sense gratification, is the path of repeated birth and death. As he exists spiritually, the living entity has no birth or death. ... Sense enjoyment in the diseased material condition must be restricted as far as possible. Unrestricted sense enjoyment in this bodily condition is the path of ignorance and death. ... A man should lead a healthy life with a sound mind just to realize vidyā, true knowledge, which is the aim of human life.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Śrī Īśopaniṣad”
Purport in Mantra Eleven.

CATHOLICS CELEBRATE EASTER

BENEDICT XVI MARKS “GOOD FRIDAY”
UNDER CLOUD OF CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL

ROME (AFP) - Roman Catholics around the world prepare to celebrate Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating “Holy Week”, and today the pontiff marked Good Friday, the Christian world's most solemn day. The pope, 82, has several appearances until Easter Sunday, when the faithful celebrate Jesus' resurrection. Yesterday, it took place the feet-washing ceremony in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome which symbolizes humility and commemorates Jesus' last supper with his 12 apostles on the evening before his crucifixion. Wearing a white apron, Benedict poured water over one bare foot of each of the priests, who were seated in a row and dried the feet with a white cloth. Today, the Pope was to hold a “Good Friday” mass at St Peter's Basilica before presiding over the traditional “Way of the Cross” procession at the Colosseum - commemorating Jesus' suffering in the hours before his crucifixion, a dramatic ritual attended by thousands of pilgrims carrying candles. On Saturday Benedict will celebrate a late-night Easter Vigil in St Peter's Square, where he will also celebrate “Easter mass” on Sunday to be followed by his “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing.

However, all the celebrations find the Roman Catholic Church under a dark cloud battling pedophile priest scandals. The child abuse scandal has engulfed much of Europe and the United States, drawing in the Vatican for harsh criticism over its handling of the affair. Many allegations that priests sexually abused children have tarnished the image of the Church and raised questions about Pope Benedict's leadership. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, from Germany, said that Catholics were aware of the “pain which has been inflicted on victims who often, for decades, were unable to express their pain in words.” The prayer to be said during Good Friday services says “Pray for the children and the young who, in the middle of the people of God and in the Church community, were wronged, abused and wounded in their body and soul.”


As the world is full of so many news about scandals of pedophile priests, we forget that Jesus was the son of God, the God's representative, and that despite having no fault, He was tried and crucified without mercy. He preached the consciousness of God, therefore He is our spiritual master, He is our Guru.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam states that any bona fide preacher of God consciousness must have the qualities of titiksā (tolerance) and karunā (compassion). In the character of Lord Jesus Christ we find both these qualities. He was so tolerant that even while he was being crucified, he didn't condemn anyone. And he was so compassionate that he prayed to God to forgive the very persons who were trying to kill him. (Of course, they could not actually kill him. But they were thinking that he could be killed, so they were committing a great offense.) As Christ was being crucified he prayed, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they are doing.” A Vaisnava is unhappy to see the suffering of others. Therefore, Lord Jesus Christ agreed to be crucified - to free others from their suffering.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Science of Self Realization”
Chapter IV “Understanding Krishna and Christ”
“Krishna, Christos, Christ”

DEBATE SHARPENS OVER MENTHOL CIGARETTES

AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERTS CLAIM
MENTHOL CIGARETTES “SWEET THE POISON.”

NEW YORK (Health News) - Government health experts on Tuesday told a Food and Drug Administration panel that there is mixed information on whether menthol in cigarettes induces people to smoke or makes it harder for them to quit. Representatives from three major tobacco companies, speaking before a committee tasked with advising the federal government on tobacco regulation, defended menthol cigarettes against charges that they put smokers' health at greater risk than regular cigarettes. “Menthol does not make cigarettes more harmful,” says vice president of the best-selling menthol cigarette, Newport. On the other hand, several public health experts, argued for a total ban of the additive, due to its role in cigarettes as “sweetening the poison.” The National Institute on Drug Abuse, presented data showing menthol smokers are usually have their first cigarette within 19 minutes of waking up, compared with about 37 minutes for smokers of traditional cigarettes. So this is an important indicator of addiction, they said.

The committee, before makes its recommendations, wants to to review information about industry marketing practices, the chemical makeup of menthol and what effects it has on human physiology, as well as any role it might play in a person's decision to start smoking or their efforts to quit. A decision to ban menthol outright would have a huge impact on the tobacco industry, as menthol cigarettes account for approximately a quarter of the market. But, argue advocates of such a ban, the FDA has already banned all other flavored cigarettes. “There's no distinction, no logic” to allowing menthol cigarettes to remain on the market while other flavors are banned, says experts from Tobacco Related Disease Research Program.


Menthol added into cigarettes increases the health risks because due to its more attractive flavour and fragrance, they become more powerfully addictive than regular cigarettes, and also because flavorings lure children to smoke.

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.

Śrīla Atulananda Ācārya :
“Yoga and Current Era”
Instituto Superior de Estudios Védicos - ISEV
http://www.atulanandadas.cl/