ARCTIC ICE MELTING FASTER

ARCTIC SEA ICE
MELTS MORE EACH YEAR

http://blogs.voanews.com - The Arctic sea ice cover has melted to its lowest extent since satellite observations of it began more than three decades ago, breaking a previous record low set in 2007. NASA and scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder report the Arctic sea ice extent  -  the amount of ice covering the sea surface – fell to 4.10 million square kilometers in Aug. 26, 2012.  And, with more days left in the summer melting cycle, they anticipate even more of a loss before the freeze cycle begins at the end of September. “By itself it’s just a number, and occasionally records are going to get set. But in the context of what’s happened in the last several years and throughout the satellite record, it’s an indication that the Arctic sea ice cover is fundamentally changing,” said Walt Meier, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado. Sea ice in the Arctic goes through a regular yearly cycle of growing and melting. While it doesn’t raise sea level, says Meier, it does have an effect on the climate systems through how much energy gets absorbed from the sun.

Since the Arctic sea ice observational record began in 1979,  the trend of ice melt went from slow and steady to more significant as time went on. Over the last 10 years, according to Meier, this trend quickly began to escalate, with record-breaking years of sea ice melt along the way. The significant drop in the amount of Arctic sea ice, says Meier, “is a kind of an exclamation point on the long term trend.” Meier worries about changes to the Arctic, and consequently Earth’s weather systems, should this trend of escalated sea ice melt continue. The sea ice is very reflective, it’s white and reflects most of the sun’s energy, says Meier. “As we lose that sea ice in the summertime. it gets replaced by the ocean which is very dark relative to the sunlight. It absorbs most of that energy, reflects very little of it, and that energy then heats up the ocean, which heats up the atmosphere and makes the entire Arctic warmer than it normally would be without sea ice,” says Meier. This causes greater warming, taking what has been the globe’s air conditioner and kind of “draining out the coolant,” explains Meier.  As a result, the ability and efficiency of that process to help cool the Earth is reduced as more and more sea ice is lost in the summertime.

The Northern Hemisphere's largest expanses of ice have thawed faster and more extensively this year than scientists have previously recorded. And the summer isn't over. The giant ice cap at the top of the world partly melts every summer and refreezes every winter. In recent years, the thaw has become progressively more extensive, and the refreeze has been smaller. “This year's melting season is a Goliath,” said geophysicist Marco Tedesco, from the City University of New York. “The ice is being lost at a very strong pace.” According to scientists, this loss of Arctic ice is massively compounding the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. Besides, to make room for these animals to graze, virgin forests are cleared and this prevents contaminated air can be renewed.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

A 2006 report from the United Nations reveals the surprising fact that ‘raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.’ Tens of billions of animals farmed for food release gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide through their massive amounts of manure. Animals such as cows and sheep, being ruminant, emit huge amount of methane due to flatulence and burping. “The released methane,” the report says, “has 23 times the global warming potential of CO2.” It is very alarming to note that the livestock industry alone is responsible for 37% of human induced methane emissions. To make room for these animals to graze, virgin forests are cleared. The livestock industry also needs vast stretches of land to raise mono crops to feed the animals. ... Alarming though these facts are I see in them a reason for hope. All that people all the world over have to do is to avoid meat eating.

Śrīla Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati
“A Solution for Global Warming”
Interview conducted by Dr. V. Swaminathan
Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Saylorsburg, PA on Sept 7, 2008
http://www.dayananda.org/related-links.html
http://www.arshavidya.org/Swami-Dayananda-Saraswati.html

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

MCDONALD’S TO OPEN FIRST VEGETARIAN OUTLETS

MCDONALD'S TO OPEN ITS FIRST
VEGETARIAN-ONLY RESTAURANT

www.foxnews.com/world - McDonald's Corp., the fast food chain that brought the hamburger to the world, is opening what may be its first vegetarian-only restaurants. The world's biggest hamburger chain said last week that the locations in India will serve only vegetarian food because of customer preferences in the region. The company could not immediately say when the restaurants would open or how many there would be. A 2006 poll found that about 40 percent of Indians do not eat meat, and McDonald's is eager to tap that 500-million-strong market. 
Already, McDonald's said its restaurants in India do not sell beef or pork, and that the kitchens are separated into sections for cooking vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. They have menu items that cater to local tastes, such as the Maharaja Mac, which is a Big Mac made with chicken patties instead of beef. It also offers a McAloo Tikki, a burger made with a spicy breaded potato patty, red onions, tomatoes and a “special vegetable sauce.” The chain offers such localized options in countries around the world.

The opening of the vegetarian-only restaurants “further speaks to McDonald's efforts to cater to local tastes,” the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company said. Without providing details, it said the restaurants will be in areas that are popular pilgrimage destinations. McDonald's said the new restaurants are the only ones it's aware of that will serve only vegetarian food. However, local franchises in India and other regions may already have meatless menus. For religious reasons, beef is not eaten by Hindus, who make up the majority of India's population of about 1.2 billion people. 
McDonald's has more than 33,500 locations around the world, but only about 250 are in India. As McDonald's faces rising competition and a volatile world economy, it has said it will focus on offering more food options that cater to local tastes in order to grow sales. Last month, the company said a key revenue measure came in flat for July, which was its worst showing in more than nine years. The figure had grown every month since April 2003.  Since opening in1996, McDonald’s restaurants in India have never served beef, in deference to local sensibilities, as even non-vegetarians shun the meat, and primarily serves chicken burgers.

McDonald's (MCD) - the fast food chain - is setting up vegetarian outlets in Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple, the holiest site of India’s minority Sikh faith, and in the small town of Katra, the base for Hindus visiting the mountain shrine of Vaishno Devi, the second busiest pilgrimage spot in India. “A vegetarian store makes absolute sense in the places which are famous as pilgrimage sites,” McDonald's India spokesperson  Rajesh Kumar Maini said. As cows are sacred in India, and much of the country is vegetarian, the existing McDonald's locations in India don't serve beef, but they do serve lots of chicken in its place. However, from a proper point of view, a  truly vegetarian food must not include any kind of meat coming from killed animals.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Anyone who eats meat can’t help but be cruel. At one time or another or at all times they must be cruel, because meat is produced by cruelty and whatever you associate with, that quality you take on, consciously or unconsciously, knowingly or unknowingly. So chicken or goat or a cow or pig or bird or whatever, these animals are killed. They are conscious beings. They are living entities, like we are but in different form. So, when they are killed, they are very frightened, they are very afraid and they are full of fear and anxiety and all that fear and all that anxiety is in their mind and that goes into their blood and that goes into their meat and you kill that animal and eat that animal to live on. Because to eat animals you have to be so cruel - so much cruelty and violence is in the activity - that all that cruelty and violence comes into you. So, in your basic dealings, your basic thinking there is always a touch of cruelty or hardness or selfishness or meanness or violence in your speaking, in your thinking, in your acting. You can’t help it. The more you eat meat, the more your will be like this.

Śrīla Mahanidhi Swami Mahārāja :
“Non-vegetarianism and Cruelty”
Lecture 6 on Caitanya Caritamrta, Kartika 2006
http://www.mnsbooks.com/
http://www.mnsbooks.com/content/non-vegetarianism-and-cruelty

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

THE CASE FOR ORGANIC FOOD

ORGANIC FOOD IS BETTER TASTING AND
CONTAINS LESS ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS

www.northjersey.com - Will a growing number of people continue to pay extra for organic foods even if they offer no nutritional advantages, as found by a much-talked-about study published this week? For North Jersey shoppers drawn to the organic section of their neighborhood supermarket, the answer is simple: It's safer. Once found only in health food stores, organic produce and meats have gone mainstream as consumers choose to avoid the pesticides and growth hormones used in conventional food production. Researchers at Stanford University analyzed the results of 240 past studies on organic food, and concluded that these foods have no nutritional advantage. But their findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Tuesday, did find that organic produce contained lower trace levels of pesticides and organic meat contained fewer antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Chensheng Lu, an associate professor of environmental exposure biology at the Harvard School of Public Health, told Reuters that “If I was a smart consumer, I would choose food that has no pesticides.” More and more consumers would agree. Nationwide, sales of organic food rose sevenfold in the past 12 years, to $26.7 billion annually, according to the Organic Trade Association (OTA). 

Heather Mallick a Toronto Star Columnist writes “I read the summary of the Stanford study, which the BBC didn't even bother to link to online, always a bad sign. Call me cynical but at no time have I ever thought organic food contained more vitamins or nutrients. Why would it? I do assume, however, that organic food contains fewer pesticides, which is why it's called “organic” I'm not impressed when non-organic food is lauded at “within acceptable contaminant levels.” Who decides those levels? Are they science-based or simply industry-friendly?,” Mallick says. Organics' move into the mainstream is due in no small part to Whole Foods Markets, an Austin, Texas-based company whose trademarked tagline is “America's Healthiest Grocery Store.” The region PR director of the company, Michael Sinatra, says “Organic food is grown in earth-friendly ways that support the environment, grown without toxic or persistent pesticides, and is often fresher and better tasting,” Mainstream does not mean less expensive, however. Organic foods cost more than non-organic, sometimes 40 percent to 50 percent more. Why the surcharge? Organic farmers have smaller yields and do not receive the federal subsides that large-scale conventional farmers do, said Paul Weiner, organics director for Fairway Market, which has stores in Paramus and Woodland Park. As demand for organic food increases, he expects prices to go down.

A recent report out of Stanford University that organic foods may not be much healthier or more nutritious than their conventional counterparts has caused quite a stir. Food is not just a delivery device for vitamins and minerals, as measured in the study. The term "organic" actually refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed and legally details the permitted use (or not) of certain ingredients in these foods. Analyst Robyn O'Brien explains that organically produced foods must be produced WITHOUT the use of: antibiotics, artificial growth hormones, high fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes (made from coal tar and petrochemicals), artificial sweeteners derived from chemicals, synthetically created chemical pesticide and fertilizers, genetically engineered proteins and ingredients, sewage sludge and irradiation. These “added ingredients” are actually what differentiate organic foods from their conventional counterparts, so the organic is better, not because of what's in it, but because of what's NOT in it.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

How can we be healthy if our world is being contaminated around us? Acid rain falls on our heads and the land; ozone levels are depleting where they are necessary and increasing where they are harmful; chemical fertilizers and poisonous insecticides are all over our food. ... Vedic Culture strongly promotes vegetarianism. The vegetarian diet has been followed since antiquity by those who have chosen the path of yoga, goodness, and purification. Today, there are also hundreds of reasons a person can help solve the conditions of the world by being a vegetarian.  No more junk food. Only buy pure organic ingredients and prepare nice food with love to offer to God and be purified by eating sanctified food, free of Karmic reactions. No more use of artificial colors, chemical flavoring, preservatives, which produce thousands of other horrifying illnesses which the Drug and Food Control Agency has not yet prohibited due to their ignorance. Always offer to Krishna the most nutrients to keep you and others healthy.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
“Vaishnava Ecology”
“The Body - We are What we Eat”
http://www.vedic-wisdom.org/
http://www.vrindavan.org/English/about/VaishnavaEcology.html

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

HOW FATHERHOOD HAS MADE ME A BETTER HINDU

HOW FATHERHOOD MAY HELP
YOU BECOME A BETTER HINDU

www.huffingtonpost.com - A popular narrative in the Bhagavata Purana, one of Hinduism's most beloved and venerated wisdom texts, involves a king who meets a forest-dwelling sage. The sage's peaceful demeanor and obvious contentment, even amidst apparent poverty, astound the king. "Who is your guru?" the king asks, eager to know where the sage learned in such a way. In response, the sage enumerates a list of 24 gurus - a list of unlikely sources of wisdom that even includes natural phenomenon, and animals - each of whom demonstrated to the sage a valuable lesson that he incorporated into his spiritual practice. Of course, the numerical list is merely illustrative; for one who is eager to learn, the sage explains, the world is filled with countless teachers. Hinduism holds that anyone - and ultimately, everyone - can be a part of our spiritual growth if we can develop the ability to see them in that way. I have had to remind myself of that principle, and of the story of the sage and his 24 gurus, as I've played the role of a father to my daughter, Shruti Sara, for the past three years. At certain times, bogged down by the seemingly mundane aspects of child rearing, it has been hard to discern the spiritual dimension. At others, though, the presence of the Divine has been palpable and awesome.

Has being a father helped me to be a better Hindu? In a certain superficial sense, the answer is no. My wife and I have had to severely reduce our involvement at our local temples, and cut back on seva (service) that we can perform there. Attending festivals and holiday observances have become less about honoring the deities being celebrated, and more about juggling diaper bags and car seats or managing temper tantrums and picky eating. Being woken up in the middle of the night by a crying child has rendered early morning meditation a near impossibility. My first three years of fatherhood have taught me a great deal about what it means to be a person of faith, and have forced to evaluate and re-evaluate how I wish to live out my spiritual path, my Dharma. In this sense, Shruti has not only helped me to be a better Hindu; she has helped me to re-define what being a Hindu is all about. She challenges me to separate the essential from the ritual. She teaches me how to see with wonder, and hear with my heart. If Shruti can be delighted by Krishna lifting a mountain, then why can't I? And if I truly believe that he is the cause of all causes, the one who created the mountains in the first place, shouldn't I see life itself as just as much of a miracle and source of wonder? I am certainly far from perfect, but in sincerely trying to share my love and guidance with her, perhaps I can give her a tiny glimpse into the love and protection of the Divine, the perfect parent of us all.

Vineet Chander, author of this beautiful article, explains that his first three years of fatherhood has taught him a great deal about what it means to be a person of faith, and his little daughter has radically transformed the way he approaches his own faith by teaching him to hear more with his heart. He says: "I am beginning to realize that, ultimately it is less important whether my intellect can prove that the stories in the texts are literally true or not. What is critically important is that there is Truth there, and that it has the potential to deeply touch my soul if I can approach it with a sense of child-like wonder and gratitude." He realizes he has been blessed with a beautiful and precious gift, but he has also been entrusted with a serious responsibility if he wants to be a Hindu father, or a father who lives his life based on Dharma.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The Krishna consciousness movement is not a fad. It is a bona fide movement intended to promote the welfare of all conditioned souls by trying to elevate everyone to the platform of Krishna consciousness. If one does not come to this platform, he must continue in material existence perpetually, sometimes in the upper planets and sometimes in the lower planets. ... Prajāpati Dakṣa is trying to benefit the conditioned souls by begetting them to give them a life with a chance for liberation. Liberation means surrender to Krishna. If one begets children with the purpose of training them to surrender to Krishna, fatherhood is very good. Similarly, when the spiritual master trains the conditioned souls to become Krishna conscious, his position is successful. If one gives the conditioned souls a chance to become Krishna conscious, all his activities are approved by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is extremely pleased, as stated here (prīto ’ham). ... By such activities, a preacher or anyone who endeavors to spread Krishna consciousness is recognized by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) - SB 6.4.44
Canto 6: “Prescribed Duties for Mankind”
Chapter 4: “The Haṁsa-guhya Prayers Offered to the Lord by Prajāpati Dakṣa”
Verse 44 - http://vedabase.com/en/sb/6/4/44

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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VIOLENT TV, FILMS AND VIDEO GAMES DO INCREASE AGGRESSION

VIOLENT IMAGES IN COMPUTER GAMES OR
TV CAN ACT AS TRIGGERS FOR AGGRESSION

www.dailymail.co.uk - Violent TV, films and video games do increase aggression, an international panel of experts has said, as they warn parents to keep an eye on what their children are watching. The report for the The International Society for Research on Aggression (IRSA) concluded that that evidence shows that the consumption of media violence can act as a trigger for aggressive thoughts or feelings already stored. They claim exposure to violent images in different media, such as movies and video games, increases the relative risk of aggression - defined as intentional harm to another person verbally or physically. The panel also warn parents that a ratings system is no substitute for the watchful eye of a parent. 
The IRSA appointed the International Media Violence Commission last December. Craig Anderson, chair of the IRSA, said: “Basically, the commission looked at, "What does the research literature say?" The commission concluded: “One may also become more vigilant for hostility and aggression in the world, and therefore, begin to feel some ambiguous actions by others (such as being bumped in a crowded room) are deliberate acts of provocation.”

The commission concluded that the ratings are not substitutes for parents watching, playing, or listening to the media their children use, stating parents should be the ones keeping a watchful eye as rating systems often provide too little detail about media content to be helpful. The researchers wrote: “Parents can also set limits on screen use, and should discuss media content with their children to promote critical thinking when viewing. Schools may help parents by teaching students from an early age to be critical consumers of the media and that, just like food, the 'you are what you eat' principle applies to healthy media consumption.” While most public policy has focused on restricting children's access to violent media, the commission found that approach to have significant political and legal challenges in many countries. For that reason, it recommends putting efforts into improving media ratings, classifications, and public education about the effects of media on children. The report is published in journal Aggressive Behaviour. Mr Anderson hopes the final report will have value to child advocacy groups. “Having such a clear statement by an unbiased, international scientific group should be very helpful to a number of child advocacy groups - such as parenting groups - in their efforts to improve the lives of children,” he said.

An International panel appointed by IRSA concluded that media violence can act as a trigger for aggressive thoughts and feelings. In their report, the commission concluded that aside from being sources of imitation, violent images - such as scenes in movies, games or even pictures in comic books - act as triggers for activating aggressive thoughts and feelings already stored in memory. If these aggressive thoughts and feelings are activated over and over again because of repeated exposure to media violence, they become chronically accessible, and therefore more likely to influence children behaviour. Will we continue letting our children remain exposed to so many images of violence for them to imitate?

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Just as children absorbed in spiritual images imitate them, children absorbed in television images imitate those images. We must ask whether we want our children to become like a television character, or like Krishna. Do we want them to attain the spiritual world after death, or take a body according to their television-influenced thoughts? ... Children between the ages of three and seventeen see an average of eighteen thousand acts of violence. According to Jim Trelease, author of Read-Aloud Handbook, you would have to see all thirty-seven of Shakespeare’s plays to see as many acts of human violence (fifty-four) as you would see in just three evenings of prime-time television. ...  The problem is not that they learn how to commit violence from watching violence on television (although perhaps they sometimes do), but that television conditions them to deal with real people as if they were on a television screen. The ultimate violence of television goes beyond desensitizing children to cruelty.

Śrīmati Urmila devi dasi :
“Your Kids and the One-Eyed Guru”
http://urmila.me.uk/index.html
http://www.krishna.com/your-kids-and-one-eyed-guru

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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MILLIONS IN US HAVE UNCONTROLLED BLOOD PRESSURE

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS HAVE
UNCONTROLLED BLOOD PRESSURE

http://articles.chicagotribune.com - Nearly half of about 67 million Americans with high blood pressure are not effectively treating their condition and face a high risk of a heart attack or stroke, a U.S. health official said on Tuesday. About 36 million people have uncontrolled high blood pressure, a condition caused when too much force is exerted by blood as it is pumped through the body and moves against vessel walls, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday.  
"The bottom line is ... most of those in this country who have (high blood pressure) don't have their numbers under control, and because of that we have a very high burden of disease," said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC. High blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke, contributes to nearly 1,000 deaths a day and $131 billion in annual direct healthcare costs, Frieden said. The condition is the second most serious public health issue. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the country, according to the CDC.

Frieden said patients with high blood pressure are either not receiving a correct combination or dosage of medication or are not keeping up with their medication. Some doctors are not warning patients who have had multiple readings of high-blood pressure, a problem Frieden said could be solved by better systems to track patients. Of the 36 million Americans with uncontrolled hypertension, about 14 million were not aware of their condition and about 22 million either chose not to take medication or were on inadequate treatment, according to the report, which surveyed adults between 2003 and 2010. "I think there's clearly a lot of room for improvement," Frieden said, noting that controlling blood pressure often means taking multiple medications daily for the rest of one's life. 
High blood pressure can be prevented through diet, exercise and taking drugs such as beta blockers and ACE inhibitors - which widen arteries. Lowering blood pressure can cut the risk of stroke, heart attack, heart failure and other conditions. Risk factors include obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and chronic difficulties such as diabetes, kidney disease and high cholesterol.

One-third of Americans have high blood pressure and only half of them have it under control, dramatically increasing their risk for possibly fatal heart attacks and strokes. There are 67 million Americans with high blood pressure and only 36 million people keeping it at healthy levels through medication or other means, the new government report shows. "High blood pressure is public enemy number two, whereas tobacco is public health enemy number one", says Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cutting down on sodium, eating a healthy diet and exercising have a role to play in helping patients get their high blood pressure under control. Life is the wonderful opportunity to know the truth, to live the truth and to know its Creator, thus we are invited to live a natural, simple and healthy life with elevated thoughts.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Srila Prabhupada gives a very nice explanation about simple living and high thinking. This is a room conversation in Bhubaneshwar, 31st January 1977, about 32 years ago. Srila Prabhupada said, our aim should be a simplified life. We should not be attracted by the modern city life. We should save time and utilize our free time for advancing in Krsna consciousness. That is perfect life. Just like Vrndavan; Vrndavan life means agriculture, cowherd boys, uneducated girls, cows, calves, trees and fruits. This is Vrndavan. The centre of Vrndavan is Krsna. All the brajwasis, they are the topmost of devotees. These uneducated brajwasi cowherd men are Krsna's best friends! They don’t have any city life, they are unsophisticated and have no education, but their love for Krsna is intense. That is perfection. Their pure love attracts Krsna more and more and because of this Krsna's so much attached to Vrndavan that He does not go anywhere. Vrindavanam parityajya padam ekam na gacchati.

Śrīla Mahanidhi Swami Mahārāja :
“Simple Living High Thinking”
Tattva Darshan, February 2009.
http://www.mnsbooks.com/
http://www.mnsbooks.com/content/simple-living-high-thinking

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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REV. MOON, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL FIGURE, DIES AT 92

REV. SUN MYUNG MOON, SELF-PROCLAIMED
MESSIAH, DIES AT 92 IN SOUTH KOREA

www.nytimes.com - The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Korean evangelist, businessman and self-proclaimed messiah who built a religious movement notable for its mass weddings, fresh-faced proselytizers and links to vast commercial interests, died on Monday in Gapyeong, South Korea. He was 92.  His death was announced on his church’s Web site, which said he had been battling complications from pneumonia, including kidney failure.  Mr. Moon courted world leaders, financed newspapers and founded numerous innocuously named civic organizations. To his critics, he pursued those activities mainly to lend legitimacy to his movement, known as the Unification Church, although his methods were sometimes questionable. In 2004, for example, he had himself crowned “humanity’s savior” in front of astonished members of Congress at a Capitol Hill luncheon. Building a business empire in South Korea and Japan, Mr. Moon used his commercial interests to support nonprofit ventures, then kept control of them by placing key insiders within their hierarchies. He avidly backed right-wing causes, turning The Washington Times into a respected newspaper in conservative circles. An ardent anti-Communist who had been imprisoned by the Communist authorities in northern Korea in the 1940s, he saw the United States as the world’s salvation. However, in 1991 despite his anti-Communist teachings, Moon negotiated business deals with the then North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung. In its early years in the United States, the Unification Church was widely viewed as little more than a cult, one whose polite, well-scrubbed members, known derisively as Moonies, sold flowers and trinkets on street corners and married in mass weddings.

In one of the last such events, in 2009, 10,000 couples exchanged or renewed vows before Mr. Moon at Sun Moon University near Seoul. Such weddings were the activity most associated with Mr. Moon in the United States. In 1954 in Seoul he founded the Unification Church - a mix of Christianity, Confucianism, Shamanism and anti-Communism - and claimed he would create perfect families and unite all religions through arranged marriages. Aged 40, Moon then wed 17-year-old follower Hak Ja Han. They were called the True Parents of Mankind. The “perfect family” was floundering too, with allegations about Moon’s relations with other women and scandals involving the lavish lifestyles of his kids. In 1998 his eldest son, Hyo Jin Moon, was revealed as a violent cocaine addict - he died of a heart attack aged 45 - and in 1999 another son, Younjin Phillip Moon, killed himself aged 21. Nansook Hong, the wife of Hyo Jin Moon, said that the entire Moon family as dysfunctional, spoiled and divided by intrigue and hypocrisy.  One of the more bizarre moments in Mr. Moon’s later years came on March 23, 2004, at what was described as a peace awards banquet, held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Members of Congress were among the guests. At one point Representative Danny K. Davis, an Illinois Democrat, wearing white gloves, carried in on a pillow one of two gold crowns that were placed on Mr. Moon and his wife.  Some of the members of Congress said they had no idea that Mr. Moon was to be involved in the banquet, though it was hosted by the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace, a foundation affiliated with the Unification Church. Speaking Korean, Moon declares himself the Messiah and says he'd spoken to the spirits of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, both of whom he said found strength in his teachings and mended their ways.

From early on Mr. Moon was revered by his followers as the messiah, and in 1992 he conferred that title on himself. He also declared that he and his second wife, Hak Ja Han, were the “true parents of all humanity.” In Moon’s view, Jesus had failed in his mission to purify mankind because he was crucified before being able to marry and have children. Mr. Moon saw himself as completing the unfulfilled task of Jesus: to restore humankind to a state of perfection by producing sinless children, and by blessing couples who would produce them; thus weddings were in keeping with a central tenet of his theology, a mix of Eastern philosophy, biblical teachings and what he called God’s revelations to him. “God is living in me and I am the incarnation of Himself,” he once said. In 2004 he told an audience in Washington that emperors, kings and presidents - including Hitler and Stalin - had “declared to all heaven and earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity’s saviour, messiah, returning Lord and true parent”. Being a billionaire tycoon, be surrounded by luxury in this material world and declare himself the Messiah, seems somewhat contradictory, if not a complete hoax.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Sometimes the Personality of Godhead descends Himself; otherwise, He deputes His confidential servants to do this act of kindness. All the messiahs - saints who have come before or who will come in the future to preach the transcendental message of the kingdom of Godhead - are to be understood as the most confidential servants of the Personality of Godhead. Lord Jesus Christ appeared as the son of Godhead, Muhammad introduced himself as the servant of Godhead, and Lord Caitanya presented Himself as the devotee of Godhead. But whatever may be their identity, all such messiahs were of the same opinion about one thing. They preached unanimously that there is no peace and prosperity in this mortal world. All of them agreed that we have to go to a separate world, where peace and prosperity have their real being. We have to search out our eternal peace and prosperity in the kingdom of God, which is a place other than this mortal world. Even such messiahs and reformers as Lord Buddha - who did not accept the existence of Godhead and preached morality and ethics in the spirit of atheism - and Śankarācārya - who did not accept the Personality of Godhead and preached morality and ethics in the spirit of pantheism - never preached that there is any possibility of attaining eternal peace and prosperity in this material world.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Message of Godhead”
Chapter One: “Transcendental Knowledge”
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International
http://vedabase.com/en/mog/1

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
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FLOODING, POWER OUTAGES PERSIST AFTER ISAAC

DAYS AFTER ISAAC HIT THE GULF COAST,
THOUSANDS STILL WITHOUT POWER IN USA

www.washingtonpost.com - Tens of thousands of customers remained in the dark Monday in Louisiana and Mississippi, nearly a week after Isaac inundated the Gulf Coast with a deluge that still has some low-lying areas under water. Most of those were in Louisiana, where utilities reported more than 100,000 people without power. Thousands also were without power in Mississippi and Arkansas. In Louisiana, many evacuees remained at shelters or bunked with friends or relatives. Meanwhile, inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are out trying to get a handle on losses. Residents can apply for grants to get help with home repairs and temporary housing, among other expenses. 
President Barack Obama was to visit Louisiana on Monday, a day ahead of the Democratic National Convention. He will meet with local officials, tour storm damage, and view response and recovery efforts before addressing reporters at St. John the Baptist Parish. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney visited the state Friday. Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, visited Bay St. Louis, Miss., and Slidell, La., on Sunday.

“We are part of a team to make sure Hurricane Isaac is put to rest as soon as we can for all those affected,” Napolitano said. “In the meantime, please know all of us are thinking about those in Louisiana who are without their homes or without their businesses.” At least seven people were killed in the storm in the U.S. - five in Louisiana and two in Mississippi. In St. John the Baptist Parish, where the president was to visit, residents spent Labor Day dragging waterlogged carpet and furniture to the curb and using bleach and water to clean hopefully to prevent mold. 
LaPlace resident Barbara Melton swept mud and debris from her home, which was at one point under 2 feet of water. The garbage, debris and standing water - combined with heat reaching the 90s - created a terrible stench. “It’s hot, it stinks, but I’m trying to get all this mud and stuff out of my house,” she said. Much of Plaquemines Parish, a vulnerable finger of land that juts into the Gulf of Mexico, remained under as much as 5 feet of water. The Category 1 hurricane walloped the parish, and for many, the damage was worse than that from Katrina in 2005.

Days after Isaac hammered Louisiana and Mississippi (USA) with winds and rain, much of a parish southeast of New Orleans was still flooded and thousand were without power. Thousands of evacuees remained at shelters or bunked with friends or relatives. In Mississippi, about 2,100 customers awaited power. Workers continued to deal with toppled trees and downed power lines, driving remained hazardous in areas without working traffic lights. Bay St. Louis was devastated by Katrina seven years ago, but this time it was protected from Isaac’s surge by a new seawall. We can protect ourselves from danger, but there will always be another one; as long as the conditioned soul sees the body as meant for sense enjoyment, he cannot get out of the entanglement of material miseries.

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. ... The King of the elephants decided to surrender unto Him.  This is intelligent.  One must know that great Supreme Personality of Godhead and surrender unto Him. ... 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” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) SB 8.2.33
Canto 8: “Withdrawal of the Cosmic Creations”
Chapter 2: “The Elephant Gajendra’s Crisis” - Verse 33
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase 2003 (Folio)

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

50 YEARS ON, DRUG FIRM SORRY FOR BIRTH DEFECTS

GERMAN DRUG FIRM MAKES
1st APOLOGY FOR THALIDOMIDE

www.sltrib.com - The German manufacturer of a notorious drug that caused thousands of babies to be born with shortened arms and legs, or no limbs at all, issued its first ever apology Friday - 50 years after pulling the drug off the market. Gruenenthal Group’s chief executive said the company wanted to apologize to mothers who took the drug during the 1950s and 1960s and to their children who suffered congenital birth defects as a result. “We ask for forgiveness that for nearly 50 years we didn’t find a way of reaching out to you from human being to human being,” Harald Stock said. “We ask that you regard our long silence as a sign of the shock that your fate caused in us.” 
Stock spoke in the west German city of Stolberg, where the company is based, during the unveiling of a bronze statue symbolizing a child born without limbs because of thalidomide. The statue is called “the sick child” - a name German victims group object to since all the victims are now adults. In German, the name also implies cure. The drug is a powerful sedative and was sold under the brand name Contergan in Germany.

It was given to pregnant women mostly to combat morning sickness, but led to a wave of birth defects in Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan. Thalidomide was yanked from the market in 1961 and was also found to cause defects in the eyes, ears, heart, genitals and internal organs of developing babies. Thalidomide was never approved for use in pregnant women in the United States. Freddie Astbury, of Liverpool, England, was born without arms or legs after his mother took thalidomide. 
The 52-year-old said the apology was years long overdue. “It’s a disgrace that it’s taken them 50 years to apologize,” said Astbury, of the Thalidomide U.K. agency, an advocacy group for survivors. “I’m gobsmacked (astounded),” he said. “For years, (Gruenenthal) have insisted they never did anything wrong and refused to talk to us.” Astbury said the drug maker should apologize not just to the people affected, but to their families. He also said the company should offer compensation. “It’s time to put their money where their mouth is,” he said. “For me to drive costs about 50,000 pounds ($79,000) for a car with all the adaptations,” he said. “A lot of us depend on specialist care and that runs into the millions.”

The pharmaceutical company “Chemie Gruenenthal”, the manufacturer of the drug Thalidomide, has issued its first apology in over 50 years to the thousands of babies born with defects as a result of the drug's use. However, Thalidomide survivors rebuffed the apology by the German company, saying it was an “insulting” response to the thousands born disabled as a result of its use. The drug, which was prescribed by doctors as harmless sleeping drug to pregnant women, caused the miscarriage and birth of thousands of crippled children and with malformations of the eyes and ears, genitals, heart, kidneys and digestive tract. The world needs more conscious doctors, nurses and health workers who performs their professional medical activities with high spiritual consciousness.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Conscious doctor keeps absolute distance from any situation that risks the respect for life and the birth chance of a human foetus. Thus, he is opposed to the abortionists, who do not respect life, which only God can create. Conscious doctor first explore all the possibilities of natural medicine before choosing any kind of surgery to patients. ... The Conscious doctor always recommends that people seek refuge in God, to see that all the bodily and mental sufferings are reactions from our wrong doings in this and past lives; that they are little bells to wake us up to the reality that we should not live away from His Will. Above all material suffering there exists a benign invitation to the spiritual world, for bodily suffering, whilst physically painful, really is not the most important things. It is most important to awaken spiritual consciousness in each and every person, for we are soul, mind and body in that order of importance.

Śrīla Bhakti Aloka Paramadvaiti Mahārāja :
"Conscious Doctors"
The Vedic Wisdom Online
http://www.vedic-wisdom.org/
http://bhaktipedia.org/espanol/index.php?n=sabidurias_vedicas.medicos_concientes

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

TWITTER STALKER SUSPECTED IN GIRL HOMICIDE

HANNAH TRUELOVE MURDER
POLICE INTERVIEWING HER FRIENDS

www.classichitsandoldies.com - Police in Georgia said they are interviewing the friends of a slain teen who tweeted days before her death that she had a “stalker,” trying to find a lead regarding who might have killed the girl. Hannah Truelove, 16, was found dead last week in a wooded area near the apartment she shared with her mother, one day after she was reported missing, police said. LaCrisia Larkin, the principal of Gainesville High School, where Truelove was a student, said she was not aware whether Truelove had any issues with a “stalker.” “She had a very supportive group of friends she hung around,” Larkin said. “She was a sweet young lady, very mannerable and respectful.” 
Sgt. Kiley Sargent, spokesman for the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, said investigators are “looking at different avenues,” including whether someone had been stalking the teen. “We have to determine what she meant by stalker,” Sargent said. “A stalker to a 16-year-old might not be a stalker to what may be Georgia code official.”

Truelove had obvious signs of trauma on her body, but the results of an autopsy are being withheld to avoid compromising the investigation, Sargent said. “Most of the leads we are getting are from people who are living in and around the neighborhood,” he said. “We are following each one.” Hannah tweeted days before her disappearance that she was being stalked. “I got me an uglyass stalker,” she tweeted Aug. 12. “So scared right now,” she wrote Aug. 18. And on Aug. 22, the day before she disappeared she wrote: “I need to move out of these dang apartments.” Just two weeks into the school year, students and staff at Truelove’s high school are trying to cope with their shocking loss, Larkin said. 
A large rock at the front of the school usually reserved for messages and reminders was turned into a memorial for the teen. Students helped paint the rock with messages of love, including a large “Heart for Hannah” and “R.I.P.” “What is surprising is so many times the students give the adults energy,” Larkin said. “We are just rallying around each other.”

Twitter may hold the key to the death of Georgia (USA) teen Hannah Truelove, 16, who tweeted that she was being stalked. Shewas found dead in a wooded area near the apartment she shared with her mother a day after being reported missing. "We think at this point it's not a random crime. We think that this was a crime that involved persons who knew each other. We have no indication it was random," Maj. Woodrow Tripp of the Hall County Sheriff's Office said. If a person - specially young people - is virtuous, he or she will be a subject of easy exploitation for all the cunning rascals of this world. In this plane of existence we have to face the malice of cunning and relentless men and women who feel envy to others and try to destroy them.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

There is a beautiful lake of very sweet water in the Yamuna which bears the name of Kaliya. This lake happened to be infested by a most venomous Serpent from whom the lake derives its name. On a certain day while the cow-boys of Braja were out pasturing their calves on the wooded banks of the Yamuna they happened to feel thirsty and not knowing that the water of the lake had been poisoned by Kaliya drank of its water which resulted in their instantaneous death. On being apprised of their plight Krishna came to the spot and restored them to life. ... The taming of Kaliya is one of the Brindaban Pastimes of Boy-Krishna. Kaliya is the type of cunning and malice. He is the embodiment of unrelenting cruelty. There is no place for Kaliya in the happy realm of Braja. Deceit and cruelty are as poison to the artless loving nature of the denizens of Braja. It is quite conceivable for the confiding chums of Krishna not to entertain any suspicion regarding the malicious intention of cruel and deceitful persons whose purpose is to poison them against Krishna. They may even unwittingly fall into the counsel of such evil persons. But Krishna is sure to rescue His Own from the wiles of His enemy.

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thākura Prabhupāda :
“The Serpent Kaliya”
An essay printed by The Harmonist - May 1932
http://issuu.com/bhaktisiddhanta.com/docs/demons_of_krsna-lila

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