CYCLONE LAILA KILLS 27 IN SOUTHERN INDIA

HEAVY RAINS AND STRONG WINDS
DISRUPT LIFE IN ANDHRA PRADESH

NEW DELHI (BBC News) - Coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh which bore the brunt of cyclone Laila received an average of about two inches of rainfall per hour, according to data collected by a NASA satellite. At least 27 people have died over the last two days as a powerful cyclone caused widespread havoc across the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Cyclone Laila toppled power lines and landslides and heavy rains stalled transport networks around the state. The storm is now weakening and is reported to be moving east to neighbouring Orissa state but officials say it can still cause more damage. More than 50,000 people were evacuated as the storm closed in. Cyclone Laila made landfall in coastal Andhra Pradesh on Thursday, plunging the area into darkness and battering it with heavy rains and strong winds. Winds of 100km/h (60mph) uprooted trees and electricity poles and massive waves lashed the coast.

Andhra Pradesh disaster management commissioner T. Radha said more than 70,000 people evacuated ahead of the storm had been told to stay in shelters until Friday evening. Radha told AFP that at least 17 people had died in storm-related accidents across the state. Television footage showed cars smashed by fallen trees, huts missing their thatched roofs, people clearing debris left by the wind and rains, flooded roads and marooned villages. The heavy rains and strong winds damaged mango, banana and lime crops, with conservative estimates putting the losses at two billion rupees (41 million dollars.) Officials say at least 55 fishermen are reported missing. The army and navy are on high alert. It is the worst storm to hit Andhra Pradesh in 14 years. In 1977, more than 10,000 people were killed when a cyclone hit Andhra Pradesh.

People are suffering from the strong beating of Mother Nature, and as we are living in the plane of ignorance and error, we can not understand what purpose lies behind a climate natural phenomenon. To grasp its meaning, we should give up our local interests and identify ourselves with the plane of the Universal Absolute's interest.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Only Krishna knows what purpose is served by the grass bending in the wind to this side, not that. ... The universal meaning of every event and incident, even the movement of a piece of straw, is all-purposeful and all-meaningful to the Absolute. It all contributes to the absolute satisfaction of Krishna. But that reading is not possible for the superficial jīvas. ... We may interpret in our own way the reason for an earthquake, a storm, or anything, but that reading is from our local interest - the real meaning is hidden. This is maya, and on the basis of that we are performing so many activities. All our interpretations are from the plane of local interest, so give it up!

Śrīla Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Mahārāja :
“Hearing to See” - “The Plane of Ignorance and Error”
Published in Centenary Anthology (Navadvipa: 1995)
Rays of The Harmonist No. 13 Karttika 2003.
Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - www.bvml.org/SBRSM/

OCEANS' FISH COULD BE GONE IN 40 YEARS

FISHLESS OCEANS COULD BE A POSSIBILITY
OCEANS BECOME BARREN DESERTS BY 2050, SAYS UN

Discovery News - The world faces the nightmare possibility of fishless oceans by 2050 without fundamental restructuring of the fishing industry, UN experts said Monday. “If the various estimates we have received... come true, then we are in the situation where 40 years down the line we, effectively, are out of fish,” Pavan Sukhdev, head of the UN Environment Program's green economy initiative, told journalists in New York. A Green Economy report due later this year by UNEP and outside experts argues this disaster can be avoided if subsidies to fishing fleets are slashed and fish are given protected zones -- ultimately resulting in a thriving industry. The report, which was opened to preview Monday, also assesses how surging global demand in other key areas including energy and fresh water can be met while preventing ecological destruction around the planet.

One billion people, mostly from poorer countries, rely on fish as their main animal protein source, according to the UN. The Green Economy report estimates there are 35 million people fishing around the world on 20 million boats. About 170 million jobs depend directly or indirectly on the sector, bringing the total web of people financially linked to 520 million. According to the UN, 30 percent of fish stocks have already collapsed, meaning they yield less than 10 percent of their former potential, while virtually all fisheries risk running out of commercially viable catches by 2050. The main scourge, the UNEP report says, are government subsidies encouraging ever bigger fishing fleets chasing ever fewer fish - with little attempt to allow the fish populations to recover. Creating marine preservation areas to allow female fish to grow to full size, thereby hugely increasing their fertility, is one vital solution, the report says. Another is restructuring the fishing fleets to favor smaller boats.


The greedy economic policies of the global fishing industry does not allow the recovery of fish stocks. Experts advise that the fishing fleets should cut down and enable fishing stocks recovering. Instead of eating so many fish, why not include in your diet sea vegetable food that float in huge seaweed mats?

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Passer-by: Good morning!
Prabhupada: Good morning. Thank you. Hare Krishna. ... Oh! Big. ... The Japanese, they eat this seaweed.
Brahmananda: Yes.
Prabhupada: Yes. It is good for the fish-eaters, because it has got fishy taste, although it is vegetable. (pause) Those who are fish-eaters, even by smelling fish, fishy, they'll increase their appetite. Is it not?
Svarupa Damodara: Yes.
Prabhupada: It is containing protein. Taste is also. (pause) This seaweeds, all over the ocean. When passing ship, you can see. All over.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Conversations - Morning Walk”
April 27, 1973, Los Angeles
Vedabase - 730427mw.la

PROCESSED MEATS MAY POSE HEART HEALTH RISK

PROCESSED MEATS MAY INCREASE RISK
FOR HEART DISEASE AND DIABETES, STUDY

LONDON (ABC World News) - Eating processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and deli meat could increase your risk for heart disease and diabetes compared to eating unprocessed red meats like beef and lamb, according to a new study. Study finds that processed meats increase health risks more than other red meat. The study published today in Circulation looked at 20 studies involving more than 1 million participants from 10 different countries. Researchers found that eating as little as 2 ounces of processed meat per day - a few strips of bacon, a hot dog or smoked sausage - increased the risk of heart disease by 42 percent and the risk of diabetes by 19 percent. The study suggested that the increased risk of heart disease and diabetes with processed meat may be related to the higher salt and preservatives that are normally found in processed meats.

While research found that both red meat and processed meats contained similar amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol - both a contributing factor for heart disease and stroke - processed meats had on average four times higher levels of salt and other preservatives, according to lead author of the study Renata Micha, research fellow in the department of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health. “The study doesn't suggest that people should panic if they had a piece of processed meat for lunch or cut it out of their diet completely, but as people are making choices [it] may be better to move away a little bit from the processed meats,” said Harlan Krumholz, professor of medicine and epidemiology at Yale University School of Medicine. Although Krumholz agreed that both processed and unprocessed foods hold their fair share of health risks, he said moderation of both processed and unprocessed meats contributes to an overall healthy diet.


It is clear that eating both processed meat or red meat cause health serious risks, including heart disease and diabetes. But, as people do not want to stop eating meat, they are advised to consume it in moderation. Why do not completely give up any kind of meat from your diet? It would be good for you and the animals, too.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Vegetables, fruits, grains and dairy products are in perfect balance for proper nutrition. These same vegetable substances, if they reach us through flesh of an animal, are dangerous to health and carry with them the following disease provoking substances: Toxic wastes from the bloodstream, germs and pus, vaccines and drugs injected to offset animal disease. Fear poisons released at the time of slaughter. Bacteria from putrefactive decomposition, which commences as soon as the animal dies. … Animal fats contain cholesterol which is now thought to cause coronary diseases of the heart. Many studies in cancer research reveal that areas in which meat-eating is highest tend to have the highest cancer rate, while vegetarian areas generally have a far lower rate.

Vedic Knowledge On Line :
“Hidden Price of Meat.”
VEDA - Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Krishna.com
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz
http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/bhaktiyoga/change.htm

ABOLISH CELIBACY, POPE IS URGED BY MORALES

BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT MEETS BENEDICT XVI
ASKS POPE TO ABOLISH PRIESTLY CELIBACY

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Bolivian President Evo Morales said in a meeting yesterday with Pope Benedict XVI that the Catholic Church should abolish celibacy vows for priests. Morales said after the meeting that he had made the appeal as a member of the “grass-roots Catholic Church”. The Pope received on Monday in the Vatican the president of Bolivia, who handed him a letter asking for the abolition of priestly celibacy and the admission of women to the priesthood. After an audience lasting 25 minutes, Morales with the aid of an interpreter announced the delivery of the letter in the pontiff’s private library. In the note, Morales described himself as a “member of the Catholic Church” and after reflecting “on the lessons of Our Lord Jesus Christ about love, justice, equality and devotion to our fellow man,” he decided to “very respectfully propose to the pope the need to overcome the crisis in the church, which, as you said, is wounded and sinful.” “To do that it is essential to democratize and humanize its clerical structure. Democratize it so that the same religious rights are acknowledged for all God’s sons and daughters and allowing women to have the same opportunities as men to fully exercise the priesthood,” he wrote.

Morales added in the missive that “The church must not deny a fundamental part of our human nature and must abolish (priestly) celibacy so that it will have fewer children not recognised by their fathers. “In the same way and with much decisiveness we must protect our children from those who take advantage of the trust that a priest inspires to abuse them. Those guilty of such atrocities not only commit sins but also crimes,” he said. Morales said he was convinced that the pope will consider “with wisdom” his proposals, with which he “humbly seeks to help heal the church’s wounds.”


For materialistic man, the greatest joy in life is sex and he can not understand the pleasure that a person experiences on the spiritual path. It is said that: “What is day for the materialistic person is night for the spiritualist. What is very sweet for the materialist (women and money) is regarded as poison by the spiritualist.”

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Throughout his life, the gross materialist who is constantly after sense gratification spends all day earning his livelihood to maintain his family, and at night he wastes his energy in sex enjoyment ... Although differently graded as businessmen, lawyers, politicians, professors, judges, coolies, pickpockets, laborers and so on, materialists all simply engage in eating, sleeping, fearing and sense gratification and thus spoil their valuable lives pursuing luxury and neglecting to perfect their lives through spiritual realization. Yogīs, however, try to perfect their lives, and therefore the Bhagavad-gītā enjoins that everyone should become a yogī.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita”
Purport in “Ādi-līlā Chapter 5 Verse 22”

JAPANESE COUPLE WEDDED BY ROBOT

TOKYO COUPLE MARRIED BY HUMANOID ROBOT
WHICH ACTS AS WITNESS AT WEDDING CEREMONY

BEIJING (Xinhuanet) - A Japanese couple was wedded by a robot “priest” in Tokyo on Sunday, the first time a wedding presided over by a robot. A humanoid robot named “I-Fairy” acts as a witness at the wedding ceremony between Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue in Tokyo May 16, 2010. The couple decided to use the robot, which conducted the ceremony with its audio functions, from Inoue's company to perform the witness' duties as they first met due to common work interest related to robots. I-Fairy, a 1.5-meter tall robot with flashing eyes and plastic pigtails, saw the wedding of Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue in a restaurant in Tokyo. At I-Fairy's instructions, the groom lifted the bride's veil and kissed her in front of 50 guests. The couple both worked in the robotics industry and has known each other through a robot project. Therefore they chose to be wedded by a robot. Since robots had brought them together in the first place, they said, having one officiate at their wedding was a natural choice.

“This was a lot of fun. I think that Japanese have a strong sense that robots are our friends. Those in the robot industry mostly understand this, but people mainly want robots near them that serve some purpose,” 36-year-old bride Satoko Inoue was quoted as saying to AP. The automated creature, known as the I-Fairy, oversaw the wedding of Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue in the capital, Tokyo. I-Fairy was originally designed to be used as a replacement public speaker. During the ceremony, I-Fairy - which has flashing eyes and plastic pigtails - instructed the groom to lift the bride's veil for the kiss. The wedding took part in a rooftop restaurant in the Japanese capital.

Here you can wath a video of this unusual ceremony

Technology and Love are becoming more united. Cupid lives on social networks and you can find your online girlfriend or boyfriend. But now, the latest development is that a robot conducts your marriage ceremony. The value of the sanctity of a marriage under a spiritual guidance is not appreciated in modern society.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Another symptom of Kali-yuga: dāmpatye 'bhirucir hetur ... “Marriages will be arranged according to temporary affection ... ” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.2.3) The relationship between husband and wife will depend on “abhirucih”, their liking each other. ... No one ever knows what the future of the girl and boy will be. ... formerly, in India, marriage took place only after an astrological calculation of past, present, and future had determined whether the couple would be happy in their life together. When marriage is thus sanctified, the man and the woman live peacefully and practice spiritual culture. Each one helps the other, so they live very happily and become advanced in spiritual life. And at last they go back home, back to Godhead. That is the system.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Journey of Self-Discovery”
VI: “Material Problems, Spiritual Solutions”

BANGKOK FIGHTING LEAVES 30 DEAD, 232 INJURED

AT LEAST 30 PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN CLASHES BETWEEN
RED SHIRTS PROTESTERS AND TROOPS IN THAILAND

BANGKOK (VOA/AP) - The Thai government has rejected calls by opposition protesters for U.N.-mediated talks to end three days of deadly battles between the two sides in the capital, Bangkok. The opposition activists, known as Red Shirts, said Sunday they were ready for U.N.-mediated negotiations provided the military stops a crackdown on their encampment. Thailand's government says a crackdown on Red Shirt protesters will continue despite their plea for U.N-mediated talks. Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn says there is no reason for the army to withdraw since “authorities are not using weapons to crack down on civilians.” The government maintains it is only targeting armed “terrorists” among the Red Shirts. Panitan says groups that use weapons and threaten security forces must “stop their actions immediately.” Earlier Sunday, the Red Shirt leadership said it would negotiate with the Thai government provided the army ends its crackdown.

Thai troops began sealing off the encampment Thursday and have fired on militant Red Shirts, who have been fighting back with homemade explosives and rocks. Thailand's main emergency medical center says 30 people have been killed in four days of street fighting between Red Shirt protesters and troops in central Bangkok. It says 232 people have been wounded in clashes that began Thursday. Erawan Emergency Center said Sunday all those killed were civilians. The government maintains it is only targeting armed “terrorists” among the Red Shirts. The Red Shirts have been protesting since mid-March demanding the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the dissolution of Parliament and new elections.

The casualty toll in Bangkok has risen due to the clashes between Red Shirts and security forces. When the government does not satisfy people, demonstrations start and protests turn violent; as a result, everybody suffers. We must find relief of these constant disturbances at the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

This world is the place of turmoil and disturbances caused by the illusory energy of Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Only a completely surrendered soul can emancipate himself from the grip of this illusory energy and surmount the ocean of births and deaths- threefold afflictions. ... We cannot see adjustment and cannot find solution by our own capacity. Total unconditional submission is the only way of solving all problems. Jivas commit offence at the Lotus Feet of Sri Krishna, when they, being eternal servants of Sri Krishna, become averse to Him. As long as Jivas will not remove this offence, there will be no practical solution. Maya will surely envelope them and there will be desire for enjoyment, which will hurl them down to hell - intense suffering.

Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāja :
Message: “Circumstances should not disturb bhajan”
Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math
hemantag@yahoo.com
sreecgmath@yahoogroups.com

AUSTRALIAN FINISHES ROUND-THE-WORLD SAIL AT AGE 16

ROUND THE WORLD SAILOR JESSICA WATSON
TEENAGE HERO ARRIVES BACK IN SYDNEY

SYDNEY (AP) - Jessica Watson (16) became the youngest person to sail around the globe solo, nonstop and unassisted when she cruised into Sydney Harbour in her pink, 34-foot (10-meter) yacht to a rock star welcome of thousands. She has battled mountainous seas, intense loneliness and critics who said she would never make it, but teenage sailor Jessica Watson has finally navigated her tiny yacht home to Sydney. “As a little girl people don't think you're capable of these things, they don't realise what young people, 16-year-olds and girls are capable of,” she told the waiting crowds. “But it's amazing what you can do.” Waiting to welcome her home was and the prime minister Kevin Rudd and premier of New South Wales, Kristina Keneally. In front of a huge crowd gathered on the Opera House steps, Mr Rudd paid tribute to Miss Watson, calling her “Australia's newest hero”.

But the teenager, unfazed by the prospect of disagreeing with the most powerful man in the country, would not accept the compliment. “I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream, you don't have to be someone special to achieve something big,” she said. “You just have to have a dream, believe in it and work hard, anything is possible.” Talking about her voyage, she said the hardest times came when bad weather was forecast, but that her own resilience had surprised her. “When you're in the middle of the night in a storm you can't fall apart, you have to just keep going.” Then, in the final days of her voyage, the wind picked up again, her generator engine started playing up and her toilet broke. With her mind fixed solely on her return, she patched up the engine with a bit of wire but gave up on the toilet.

It is not common to read news about a youngster who has developed these qualities: tapah (austerity), acāpalam (determination), dhritih (fortitude) and what is most astonishing, the quality of: na ati-mānitā (not expectation of honor). Her qualities should remind us about the transcendental qualities meant for making a person progress in spiritual understanding.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said:
Fearlessness; purification of one's existence; cultivation of spiritual knowledge; charity; self-control; performance of sacrifice; study of the Vedas; austerity; simplicity; nonviolence; truthfulness; freedom from anger; renunciation; tranquillity; aversion to faultfinding; compassion for all living entities; freedom from covetousness; gentleness; modesty; steady determination; vigor; forgiveness; fortitude; cleanliness; and freedom from envy and from the passion for honor - these transcendental qualities, O son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.

Bhagavān Lord Śrī Krishna :
“Bhagavad-gītā As It Is”
Chapter 16 - Verses 1-3
“The Divine And Demoniac Natures”

TEACHER FIRED FOR BEATING STUDENT

TEACHER SACKED AFTER ATTACK

ON STUDENT POSTED ON YOUTUBE

WASHINGTON (Fox News) - A teacher from Texas just got fired after a video release was set on the internet that showed how her student got beaten at school by her own hands. The student was named Isiah Johnson and the violent and abusive teacher was named Sherry Davis. Sherri Davis is a Science teacher at Jamie’s House Charter School in Houston Texas. Janiqua Johnson, the student who shot the video, said that Davis snapped and “just started beating him up. His behavior may have been bad but he didn’t deserve that.” The whole ordeal started when Isiah made fun of a special child. Suprisingly as students watched, the teacher snapped and beat him up as a consequence. Another student apparently caught the video from his mobile phone and made the video viral on the internet. The teacher got fired after witnessing the video.

A statement school Principal David Jones said: "Now that officials at Jamie's House Charter School have been able to review the video on Fox News, we are horrified at the actions of the teacher. "There is no excuse for a teacher to behave in this way with a child. Although we had already removed the teacher from the classroom and put her on administrative duty, we now plan to terminate the teacher and make an apology to the student and his mother. "In addition, the school will investigate whether other teachers witnessed this terrible incident and did not come forward to report it. Those teachers could be facing disciplinary action, as well. "Educators are entrusted by parents with their children every day and we have a responsibility to see that they are not only taught but treated with respect. Through such incident, many parents are already putting measures in protecting their children in school.

Here you can watch the video:

It’s really alarming that teachers who are considered to be the 2nd parents of the children have the propensity to do such domestic violence. We should find the peace and love which exists inside our heart, by respecting the sadhus, following their instructions and asking for the grace of God.

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

A BOY SURVIVE A PLANE CRASH

DUTCH BOY, NINE, SOLE

SURVIVOR OF PLANE CRASH

THE HAGUE (AFP/BBC News) - A nine-year-old Dutch boy is stable in hospital after becoming the sole survivor of the Libyan Afriqiyah Airways plane from Johannesburg, which disintegrated on landing at Tripoli airport on Wednesday. This boy - sole survivor of the plane crash that killed 103 people, lost his parents and brother in a horrific end to a dream African safari, officials said Thursday. Identified by the foreign ministry only as Ruben, he was visited a day after the crash by an aunt and uncle flown into Tripoli by the Dutch government, and smiled when he saw them, said the foreign ministry. “He was of course after the disaster he experienced, after the great loss of his parents and brother, happy to see two familiar faces at his bedside,” Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told journalists. “His condition is stable but it is not yet possible to transport him.” The ministry refused to reveal the surname of the boy, who hails from the southern city of Tilburg, to protect the family's privacy.


The Brabants Daily quoted his grandmother An van de Sande as saying the boy had been on a South African safari with his brother Enzo, 11, mother Trudy, 41, and father Patrick, 40, to celebrate the couple's copper wedding anniversary - marked in the Netherlands after 12.5 years. “We don't understand. It's like we're in a film,” Van de Sande said. Verhagen confirmed that the survivor's father, mother and 11-year-old brother were among 70 Dutch citizens who perished. “The child underwent several rounds of surgery to his legs. He had simple fractures and double fractures,” the doctor said on Libyan state television, which also showed pictures of the boy's legs in casts.

There were 103 people killed and only one survivor. The experts don’t have conclusive answers, but they suggested that your placement in the airplane is key for surviving a crash. They do not want to recognize that above all their mental speculations, there is One Supreme Controller.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

As stated, no one can protect the person whom Krishna is prepared to kill, and no one can kill the person whom Krishna protects.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:

"The Srimad Bhagavatam - Purport in Canto 4 - Chapter 17 - Verse 30"

Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is omnipotent, and if He wants to kill someone, no one can save that person. Similarly, if He wants to save someone, no one can kill him.

Srila A.C. BV Swami Prabhupada:
"Krishna Book - Chapter 72 - The Liberation of King Jarāsandha"

A NEW DREADFUL SCHOOL ATTACK HITS CHINA

7 KIDS KILLED IN LATEST
SCHOOL ATTACK IN CHINA

Beijing (www.csmonitor.com) - A man in northwest China killed seven kindergartners and two teachers, in the sixth school attack since March. This man - Wu Huanmin - wielding a kitchen cleaver killed seven children and two teachers at a kindergarten in northwest China on Wednesday, in the latest of a series of attacks on schools that has sparked widespread public alarm. The killer in Wednesday’s attack, Wu Huanmin, later committed suicide at home, according to a local official quoted by the official Xinhua news agency, which said that “his motive was not immediately known.” The rampage brought the death toll from six similar assaults since March to 18; more than 80 people have been injured. President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao had both called for action to protect schoolchildren even before today’s bloodshed.

“The fundamental problem is that our society is sick,” Zhou Xiaozheng, a retired sociology professor in Beijing, told the Monitor earlier this month. “We suffer from corrupt officials, unfair distribution of resources, and an unjust legal system. These are the sorts of things that attack a society’s immune system.” The attack took place on the outskirts of Hanzhong, an industrial city of about 3.7 million. Hanzhong last week deployed 2,000 police officers and security guards to patrol schools and kindergartens in the wake of a slew school attacks across the country, according to the city's website. For some Americans, the attacks in China are reminiscent of the aftermath of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, when a series of copycat attacks occurred. It also prompted tighter security measures in schools nationwide.


Again China suffers a new knife attack on schoolchildren in the last two months. Many commentators have blamed the nature of Chinese society under repressive, one-political party rule. But the main reason is to live in a merciless society without God, full of hate and cruelty.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Activities which lead to heavenly enjoyment are called “punya” (piety) and activities which lead to hellish suffering are called “pāpa” (sin). … Sin is not a constitutional factor of the jiva, but rather takes shelter of the jiva in the conditioned state. Some actions or states (pāpas) are contradictory to the natural qualities (punyas) of the jiva: hatred, lying, cruelty, lust, envy, injustice. Cruelty may be directed towards human beings or animals. If a person acts cruelly towards other men he creates a disturbance to the world. A world devoid of mercy means a world filled with cruelty.

Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thākura :
“Śrī Caitanya Śiksamrta”
“The Nectarean Teaching of Śrī Caitanya”
Second Chapter: “Punya karma - Meritorious Action”