AS THE CRISIS INCREASES, CREMATIONS INCREASES, TOO

USA: IN TOUGH TIMES, A BOOM IN
CREMATIONS AS A WAY TO SAVE MONEY

New York - As Toni Kelly battled lymphoma she worried obsessively that her four-year struggle would destroy her family’s finances. She knew that after she died, which she did on Sept. 29, there was one way she could keep from adding to the $200,000 in medical debt she would leave behind. Like a growing proportion of Americans, she said she wanted her body to be cremated.  All but taboo in the United States 50 years ago, cremation is now chosen over burial in 41 % of American deaths, up from 15 % in 1985, according to the Cremation Association of North America. The association projects it will pass 50 % by 2017 (still lagging behind Canada and much of Europe and Asia). Economics is clearly one of the factors driving that change.

The percentage of bodies that are cremated has risen steadily for years, for reasons ranging from spiritual to environmental. But a recent study shows that the increase has accelerated during the downturn, and many funeral home directors say they believe the economy is leading people to look for less expensive options.  The disposition of Ms. Kelly’s remains cost about $1,600, and that total included a death notice, a death certificate and an urn bought online. It was a fraction of the $10,000 to $16,000 that is typically spent on a traditional funeral and burial.  Most mainstream religions have relaxed objections to cremation, which were tied to biblically based views of the body as a vessel for the soul and of a heaven populated by human forms.

“America is becoming Hinduized in this way,” says Stephen Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University and the author of “Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America.” “We’re increasingly seeing the human as essentially spiritual and gradually giving up on the Judeo-Christian idea of the person in the afterlife.”  Because of ignorance about life after death, man laments for the dead body and wants to preserve it; nevertheless it is recommended to burn the lifeless body.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Apparently the queens continued lamenting for the dead body, the lump of matter, and would not allow it to be taken away for burning. This illustrates the strong grip of illusion among foolish persons who consider the body the self. ... Because of ignorance only, the queens thought of the dead body as their husband and somehow or other thought that if the body were kept their husband would remain with them. ... Thus the bodily concept of life is extremely strong among foolish persons, who are compared to cows and asses. Nowadays, great scientists are trying to freeze dead bodies so that in the future these frozen bodies may again be brought to life.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam - Canto 7: The Science of God  
Chapter 2: Hiranyakaśipu, King of the Demons
Verse 35 - Bhaktivedanta VedaBase

US COMPANY RECALLS GROUND BEEF

20 TONS OF GROUND BEEF RECALLED
FOR POSSIBLE E. COLI CONTAMINATION

Washington D.C. (KTLA) - Over 40,000 pounds of ground beef has been recalled over fears it may be contaminated with E. Coli. Nebraska-based Tyson Fresh Meats issued the recall Friday after a routine USDA examination found the beef may be contaminated with a strain of E. coli. The beef was sold to institutions and distributors in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.  Affected products include 10-pound chubs of “Chuck Fine Ground Beef 80/20” with the best before or freeze-by date of 11/13/11.

Each package bears establishment number “EST. 245C” inside the USDA mark of inspection. So far no illnesses have been reported. E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration, and in the most severe cases, kidney failure. The very young, seniors and persons with weak immune systems are the most susceptible to foodborne illness. FSIS advises all consumers to safely prepare raw meat products, including fresh and frozen, and only consume ground beef that has been cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees. Consumers who may have bought or come in contact with the product are being asked to call the company at (866) 328-3156.

A Nebraska meatpacker recalled more than 40,000 pounds of ground beef products distributed in 16 US states after a test confirmed the presence of E. Coli (Escherichia Coli).  This is a bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure. The very young, the elderly and those with weak immune systems are the most susceptible.  The new highly industrialized way we produce meat has opened up new ecological homes for a number of bacteria.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In “Modern Meat,” FRONTLINE speaks with numerous scientists and industry observers who raise serious concerns about today’s meat production system. With large numbers of animals being raised together in huge feedlots covered with feces, they say, it’s easy for bacteria to spread from one animal to another.  “Cows tend to produce feces [and] feces are primarily bacteria,” says Glen Morris, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland and a former USDA official.  “When those bacteria are spread around, there’s ample opportunity for bacteria to be spread from one cow to the next.  “In the larger feedlots,” he adds, “there’s a greater chance for the passage of microorganisms back and forth. All of that contributes to the spread of microorganisms like E. Coli.”

Dr Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“The Dangers of Meat”
“Modern Meat: A PBS Frontline Documentary”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/the_dangers_of_meat.htm

CHILD PORN BUST IN EUROPE - 112 ARRESTS

112 SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN ONLINE
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SWOOP

Amsterdam (AP) - Police arrested 112 people in 22 countries after a yearlong investigation into child pornography, Europol said Friday, warning that technology is making combating the spread of child abuse images ever more difficult.  The operation targeted people sharing “the most extreme forms of video material,” including images of babies and toddlers being sexually abused or raped, the European police coordination agency said.  There are 269 suspects so far, and more arrests are likely after the operation uncovered previously unknown networks of child sex offenders operating on different Internet chat channels.  This operation shows how the internet is helping offenders to develop better techniques for sharing images on a global basis and for protecting their identity. 

“The problems involved are becoming harder to police and call for sustained efforts by policy-makers and law enforcement agencies to ensure that society’s response remains strong and agile in this area,” said Europol director Rob Wainwright.  He called the operation a success, but noted in a statement it shows “how the Internet is helping offenders to develop better techniques for sharing images on a global basis and for protecting their identity.”  The arrests were made as part of Operation Icarus, which was initiated at the start of this year. The nations involved in the investigation were Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Croatia, Norway and Switzerland.

Police in 22 European countries swooped on 112 suspects for allegedly sharing “the most extreme form” of online videos of child pornography.  The video material included babies and toddlers being sexually abused and raped, according to policing agency Europol.  The investigation is by no means over because online child sex abuse networks are a “global problem.”  By watching these videos we are participating in sexual violence against defenseless and we will reap the karmic results of such action.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Excessive influence of these two (rajas and tamas) ultimately cause suffering. Knowing this, one can understand that pornography involves considerable violence - violence to oneself and others. ... How would you feel if one of the teen porn girls was your daughter, sister, or niece?  They are all someone’s daughter, sister, or niece.  How do you think their parents feel, seeing their children involved in the pornography industry?  Knowledge of the fact that you are instrumental in perpetuating their involvement in this should help you realize just how ugly you become when you implicate yourself in pornography, whether it is on the Internet or elsewhere.  It is a violent activity with violent results.

Śrīla Bhakti Vedanta Tripurari Mahārāja :
“Kuruksetra War: Myth, History, or Lila?”
“Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari”
Śrī Caitanya Sanga - Vol. III, N° 3 – January 23, 2001.
http://swami.org/
http://swami.org/pages/sanga/current.php

TOXIC LIQUOR DEATHS HIT 162 IN INDIA

BOOTLEG LIQUOR DEATHS
HIT 162 IN EASTERN INDIA

Sangrampur, India (AP) - Police raided illegal distilleries and dismantled dozens of liquor dens Friday across an eastern Indian district where 162 people died after drinking methanol-tainted bootleg alcohol.  12 people were arrested in connection with making and distributing the cheap, illicit liquor, but police were still searching for the kingpin of the operation.  Many of the victims were day laborers, street hawkers and rickshaw drivers who gathered along a road near a railway station after work Tuesday to drink the booze they bought for 10 rupees (20 cents) a half liter, less than a third the price of legal alcohol.  They later began vomiting, suffering piercing headaches and frothing at the mouth, and by Friday morning 162 had died.

About 90 others, some in critical condition, were hospitalized in Diamond Harbour village for treatment. Doctors and other medical staff were working overtime to help.  Illegal liquor operations flourish in India’s urban slums and among the rural poor who can’t afford alcohol at state-sanctioned shops.  Bootleggers, often working in homes, hidden warehouses and even in forests, can turn a liter of genuine alcohol into 1,000 liters of bootlegged swill with chemicals and additives that usually cause no harm. However, sometimes it is mixed with cheap, toxic chemicals. Drinking alcohol contains ethanol, whereas highly toxic methanol - a clear liquid used as fuel, solvent or antifreeze - can induce comas and cause blindness and is deadly in high doses.  In 2009, at least 112 people died from toxic alcohol in western India.

Despite religious and cultural restrictions against drinking among Indians, an estimated 5 percent - roughly 60 million people - are alcoholics.  Illegal liquor operations flourish in India’s urban slums and among the rural poor.  The hooch is often mixed with cheap, toxic chemicals to increase potency and profit, with deadly consequences.   Due to the influence of Kali, and without a culture of social drinking, people are looking for something that can offer them a cheap kick.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

That (Mahārāja Parīksit) is responsible king. Not that “They want to drink, and we can levy tax for drinking.” Because by, I mean to say, encouraging people drinking... That we see in India now. Gandhi’s started his movement on this basis. Nobody could drink even tea. At least amongst his associates, nobody could drink even tea. No cigarette. Gandhi was very strict. And of course, he could not prohibit, but he was also against illicit sex, drinking, gambling. But he prohibited. He introduced prohibition in so many states. But now government is encouraging. Government is giving license, “Yes, openly you can drink.” Kali’s influence. ... Because government knew it or know it that when a man becomes drunkard, he will drink at any cost. At any cost. Pramatta. Pramatta. Matta means mad, and pramatta means prakrista-rupena matta.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Lecture in Los Angeles, on January 7, 1974
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.16.10 - 740107SB.LA
Complete Works of Srila Prabhupada

THEORY OF INDO-ARYAN INVASION IS A MYTH

INDIANS ARE NOT DESCENDANTS
OF ARYAN INVASION, SAYS STUDY

http://indiatoday.intoday.in - Widely believed theory of Indo-Aryan invasion, often used to explain early settlements in the Indian subcontinent is a myth, a new study by Indian geneticists says.  The origin of genetic diversity found in South Asia is much older than 3,500 years when the Indo-Aryans were supposed to have migrated to India, a new study from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, says. The theory of Indo-Aryan migration was proposed in mid-19th century by German linguist and Sanskrit scholar Max Muller.  He had suggested that 3,500 years ago, a dramatic migration of Indo-European speakers from Central Asia played a key role in shaping contemporary South Asian populations and this was responsible for introduction of the Indo-European language family and the caste system in India.

“Our study clearly shows that there was no genetic influx 3,500 years ago,” said Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj of CCMB, who led the research team, with scientists from the University of Tartu, Estonia, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Chennai and Banaras Hindu University. “It is high time we re-write India’s prehistory based on scientific evidence,” said Dr Lalji Singh, former director of CCMB. “There is no genetic evidence that Indo-Aryans invaded or migrated to India or even something such as Aryans existed”.  “The genetic component which spread beyond India is significantly higher in India than in any other part of world. This implies that this genetic component originated in India and then spread to West Asia and Caucasus,” said Gyaneshwar Chaube of University of Tartu, Estonia. The study appeared in American Journal of Human Genetics on Friday.

The Aryan Invasion Theory, which deprives the inhabitants of India of their Vedic heritage, is a myth. Many archaeological findings have challenged this theory.  Researchers analysed some 600.000 bits of genetic information in the form of SNPs drawn from DNA of over 1,300 individuals from 112 populations including 30 ethnic groups in India.  The comparison of this data showed the existence of a genetic component originated in India and then spread to West Asia and Caucasus.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The early Indologists: Devised the Aryan Invasion theory, denying India’s Vedic past.  They taught that the English educational system is superior.  They intentionally misinterpreted sanskrit texts to make the Vedas look primitive.  And they systematically tried to make Indians ashamed of their own culture.  Thus the actions of these Indologists seem to indicate that they were motivated by a racial bias. Innumerable archaeological findings and their analysis have recently brought the Aryan Invasion Theory into serious question. This theory is still taught as fact in many educational systems despite much contrary evidence. ... Max Muller, the principal architect of the Aryan Invasion theory, admitted the purely speculative nature of his Vedic chronology.

Śrīpad Bhakti Bhāvana Vishnu Mahārāja :
(David H. Osborn) ‘Science of the Sacred’
‘Ancient Perspectives for Modern Science’
“Scientific Verification of Vedic Knowledge”
http://gosai.com/writings/science-of-the-sacred

SAUDI BEHEADING FOR SORCERY “SHOCKING”

SAUDI WOMAN EXECUTED FOR
‘WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY’

Dubai (Reuters) - Rights group Amnesty International has described as “deeply shocking” Saudi Arabia’s beheading of a woman convicted on charges of “sorcery and witchcraft,” saying it underlined the urgent need to end executions in the kingdom.  Saudi national Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was executed on Monday in the northern province of al-Jawf after being tried and convicted for practicing sorcery, the interior ministry said, without giving details of the charges.  “The citizen... practiced acts of witchcraft and sorcery,” Saudi newspaper al-Watan cited the interior ministry as saying. “The death sentence was carried out on the accused yesterday (Monday) in the Qurayyat district in al-Jawf region.”  Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy, has no written criminal code, which is instead based on an uncodified form of Islamic sharia law as interpreted by the country’s judges.

“While we don’t know the details of the acts which the authorities accused Amina of committing, the charge of sorcery has often been used in Saudi Arabia to punish people, generally after unfair trials, for exercising their right to freedom of speech or religion,” Philip Luther, interim director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program, said in a statement.  Amnesty said the execution was the second of its kind in recent months. A Sudanese national was beheaded in the Saudi city of Medina in September after being convicted on sorcery charges, according to the London-based group.  Amnesty put at 79 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia so far this year, nearly triple the figure in 2010.

A Saudi woman has been executed for practising “witchcraft and sorcery”.  Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was beheaded on Monday in the province of Jawf.  The human rights group Amnesty International says that Saudi Arabia does not actually define sorcery as a capital offence. However, some conservative clerics urge the strongest possible punishments against fortune-tellers and faith healers as a threat to Islam.  Laws must be enforced by the king or rulers, but there must be fair correspondence between the nature of the offense and the punishment it deserves.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Let the (king), having fully ascertained the motive, the time and place (of the offence), and having considered the ability (of the criminal to suffer) and the (nature of the) crime, cause punishment to fall on those who deserve it. Unjust punishment destroys reputation among men, and fame (after death), and causes even in the next world the loss of heaven; let him, therefore, beware of (inflicting) it.  A king who punishes those who do not deserve it, and punishes not those who deserve it, brings great infamy on himself and (after death) sinks into hell. Let him punish first by (gentle) admonition, afterwards by (harsh) reproof, thirdly by a fine, after that by corporal chastisement. But when he cannot restrain such (offenders) even by corporal punishment, then let him apply to them even all the four (modes co jointly).

The Laws of Manu
Chapter VIII - Verses 126 - 130
Translated by Georg Bühler
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/extra/bl-lawsofmanu8.htm

RAPED HER, MARRIED HER AND KILLED HER

HE RAPED HER, SHE FORGAVE HIM,
GOT MARRIED, AND MURDERED HER

www.buenosairesherald.com - A man arrested on Saturday after being accused of stabbing his wife to death in the La Pampa city of General Pico, Argentina, tried to commit suicide in his cell one day before being questioned by the police, authorities said.  The case has caused outrage in the population after it was found that before marrying the victim, the man had raped her and gone to jail, but was pardoned by the woman who later agreed to become his wife.  She was an 18 year-old Argentine girl who was stabbed to death by 26-year old Marcelo Tomaselli, the man who had raped her, and had forgiven him enough to accept him as her husband.  Last April, Carla Figueroa told police that while holding a knife to her abdomen, Tomaselli had sexually abused her; he was arrested and spent 8 months in prison, until Figueroa forgave him and got the charges dropped. 

The pair married this past October 28th, while he was still in prison.  However, last Saturday, he stabbed his wife to death, in front of their three year-old, as well as his own mother.  Tomaselli was found by police in the kitchen of his own home, holding the three year-old with bloody hands.  He was arrested and refused to say anything to investigators. Later he tried to hang himself in his cell using his own pants.  Deputy Police Chief reported that the suspect had tried to hang himself with his trousers a few hours after being arrested in connection to the murder of his wife.  Police officers said that after the incident the suspect was taken to the local hospital, where he was sedated after presenting “an extremely aggressive” behaviour.  Besides the preventive custody, genetic analysis, psychological studies, cellphone tracking, among other evaluations were ordered by the court.

Public prosecutor in Argentina asked the preventive custody of 26-year old Marcelo Tomaselli, as the suspect was formally accused of homicide aggravated by relationship to the victim.  The man is accused of stabbing his young wife to death, 18-year old Carla Figueroa, in General Pico in La Pampa province.  The case has caused outrage in the population after it was found that before marrying the victim, the man had raped her and gone to jail, but was pardoned by the woman who later agreed to become his wife.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

“There are three gates leading to this hell - lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.  The man who has escaped these three gates of hell, O son of Kuntī, performs acts conducive to self-realization and thus gradually attains the supreme destination.” (Bg. 16.21 - 22).  The beginning of demoniac life is described herein. One tries to satisfy his lust, and when he cannot, anger and greed arise. A sane man who does not want to glide down to the species of demoniac life must try to give up these three enemies, which can kill the self to such an extent that there will be no possibility of liberation from this material entanglement.  One should be very careful of these three enemies to human life: lust, anger and greed. The more a person is freed from lust, anger and greed, the more his existence becomes pure. Then he can follow the rules and regulations enjoined in the Vedic literature. By following the regulative principles of human life, one gradually raises himself to the platform of spiritual realization.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is
Chapter 16: “The Divine And Demoniac Natures”
Verses  21 and 22 - Bhaktivedanta VedaBase

THE MIDDLE PATH IN TECHNOLOGY

DISCOVER WAYS IN WHICH TECHNOLOGY
CAN FACILITATE OUR SPIRIT OF INQUIRY

indiatimes.com - As creators and users of technology, we have been greatly empowered. Yet this power often comes at the cost of becoming entirely dependent on this very technology.  Our enthusiasm to explore and to know is often limited to internet searches. We do not go out and explore nature and so tend to lose the human touch. Nothing can replace the experience of touching snow or feeling the coolness of the flowing river.  While it is much easier to know more about anything by connecting to the World Wide Web, the enthusiasm to discover and learn firsthand is receding and only the virtual experience remains.  It is a fine line of balance to know how much to depend on information and when to rely on intuition. It is a skill to deepen our knowledge with information yet broaden our vision with real experience. Both skill and balance are essential to avoid the risk of overexposure and fatigue; to keep creativity flowing and enthusiasm alive.

This is where spirituality helps.  Spirituality is not a dogmatic rule. It is dynamic action, continuously accommodating and adapting to changes in circumstances and the environment. It makes you ever accepting of change. This ability to adapt is essential in a technological environment where the need to upgrade and update oneself is imperative to stay ahead.  In the race to keep up with technology, we should not forget the mind that created it. We are used to charging our phones and laptops. What can we do to re-charge ourselves? For the human mind to be more effective, it needs to be charged through meditation.  Meditation brings centeredness. It is the subtler technology for mind management. It calms the agitated mind. It connects us to our source and brings us back home to ourselves. It is important that we connect to the ‘inner-net’ and not just the Internet.

The same finger-on-a-button that can unleash a nuclear bomb can also spread peace. Walking this line of balance with effortless grace is the skill that meditation brings in us so naturally.  Living the values of caring and sharing, of seeking the highest truth and ultimate joy, of giving love and wisdom, are the signs of an individual blossoming to his full potential through spirituality. Technology should be an aide in this journey to make life a daily celebration. But it isn't so simple. Meditation requires a pure heart of dedication, not one of exploitation.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

Remembering (smarana) or meditating (dhyana) requires purity of heart in order for it to be effective. Thus mental utterances are considered more powerful than verbal ones because they necessitate a controlled mind, whereas verbal utterances of God’s name do not. However, from this it should be obvious that verbal utterances of God’s name are more powerful because they can be effective even when the mind is uncontrolled, and through such verbal utterance one can gradually bring the mind under control. The scriptural verdict is that chanting God’s name aloud in kirtana is most efficacious. The first effect derived from such chanting is the cleansing of the heart. To the extent that one’s heart is cleansed of desire one can effectively engage in meditation on God’s name silently in japa. Otherwise japa can be uttered aloud or audibly to oneself as a limb of kirtana.

Śrīla Bhakti Vedanta Tripurari Mahārāja :
“Chanting The Holy Name of God”
Sri Caitanya Sanga - September 30, 2002, Vol. IV, No. 23
http://www.swami.org/pages/sanga/
http://www.swami.org/pages/sanga/2002/2002_23.php

VEGETARIAN STARS ON NEW US POSTAGE STAMPS

STARS FEATURED ON U.S. POSTAGE
STAMPS HONORING VEGETARIANS

USA (LA Times) - It isn’t every day that Pamela Anderson shares billing with Pythagoras.  But that was just one of many oddities on display Tuesday outside the Hollywood Post Office, where the blond bombshell joined former game-show host 88-year-old Bob Barker to promote postage stamps featuring famous vegetarians.  The U.S. Postal Service announced that living people would now be eligible to be featured on stamps. This has sparked the creative wheels of PETA’s propaganda machine, and last week the animal rights organization held a media event to launch a limited edition line of postage stamps featuring 20 famous vegetarians. The event, naturally, was held in Hollywood, outside the post office of the stars. The limited-edition sheet of 20 44-cent stamps produced and sold by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, makes for an unusual assemblage - linking Anderson and Barker, to Pythagoras.

Anderson unquestionably was the main draw for the crowd of photographers, who started shouting requests the moment she stepped out of an enormous black GMC Denali SUV.    Along with Anderson and Barker, the stamps also feature some long-dead vegetarians such as Mohandas Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy and Leonardo da Vinci. Other famous celebrities vegans that are featured in PETA’s latest campaign.  Some of the very-much-alive promoters of vegetarianism included in the group are Paul McCartney, Woody Harrelson, Cesar Chevez, Ellen De Generes, Joan Jett and a comedian named Steve-O.  The stamps can be purchased online through December and possibly into January at www.PETA.org.  “People think that eating vegan is a new trend, but it was actually 3,000 years ago that the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras wrote that carnivores are digging their graves with their teeth,” Dan Mathews, PETA’s senior vice president said.

Criticize the folks at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - the animal rights organization - if you want, but they know how to generate publicity for their cause.  Mohandas Gandhi and Pamela Anderson are featured on new stamps made by PETA.  The limited-edition sheet of stamps is featuring 20 famous vegetarians and vegans, linking celebrities as Anderson, Bob Barker, Paul McCartney, Brian Adams, Woody Allen, Morrissey, Woody Harrelson and Joan Jett to Gandhi, Pythagoras, Leonardo da Vinci and Leo Tolstoy.  What are you waiting for becoming a vegetarian?

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

He (the animal) gives you the nicest food (milk), full of vitamins. And you can prepare from milk hundreds and thousands of so many palatable things. That is civilization. ... Milk is nothing but the blood. So civilization means let the cow live, and you take the milk, which is nothing but blood. When the mother feeds the child with milk, wherefrom the milk comes? Milk comes from the blood of the mother. Therefore the mother is supplied nutritious food so that she can produce milk for the child. Similarly, cow is mother. What is this philosophy, “Kill the mothers and eat?” “Kill the child and eat?” What is this nonsense? Such crude things are going on in the name of civilization. ... This is not civilization. Civilization is how to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is civilization.  One should be intelligent enough. Education must be directed in that way.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Room Conversation - July 31, 1975.
New Orleans - 750731rc.no
Complete Works of Srila Prabhupada
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International

CARBON EMISSIONS ROSE 5.9 PERCENT IN 2010

CO2 EMISSIONS IN 2010 SHOW
BIGGEST INCREASE EVER RECORDED

www.nytimes.com - Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by the largest amount on record last year, upending the notion that the brief decline during the recession might persist through the recovery.  Emissions rose 5.9 percent in 2010, according to an analysis released Sunday by the Global Carbon Project, an international collaboration of scientists tracking the numbers. Scientists with the group said the increase, a half-billion extra tons of carbon pumped into the air, was almost certainly the largest absolute jump in any year since the Industrial Revolution, and the largest percentage increase since 2003.  The researchers said the high growth rate reflected a bounce-back from the 1.4 percent drop in emissions in 2009, the year the recession had its biggest impact. 

The new figures come as delegates from 191 countries meet in Durban, South Africa, for yet another negotiating session in a global control effort that has been going on, with minimal success, for the better part of two decades. The growth rate in the 1990s was closer to 1 percent yearly. In the United States, emissions dropped by a remarkable 7 percent in the recession year of 2009, but rose by just over 4 percent last year, the new analysis shows. This country is the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, pumping 1.5 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere last year.  The United States was surpassed several years ago by China, where emissions grew 10.4 percent in 2010, with that country injecting 2.2 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide emissions are usually measured by the weight of carbon they contain.

If the extraordinary growth persists, it means little progress in limiting greenhouse gases.  Scientists say the rapid growth of emissions is warming the Earth, threatening the ecology and putting human welfare at long-term risk. But their increasingly urgent pleas that society find a way to limit emissions have met sharp political resistance in many countries, including the United States, because doing so would entail higher energy costs.  Planet earth is suffering for the destruction of rainforests to create pasture lands for livestock. Take out meat from your human diet!

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Many of the world’s massive environmental problems could be solved by the reduction or elimination of meat-eating, including global warming, loss of topsoil, loss of rainforests and species extinction.  The temperature of the earth is rising. This global warming, known as “the greenhouse effect,” results primarily from carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas. Three times more fossil fuels must be burned to produce a meat-centered diet than for a meat-free diet. If people stopped eating meat, the threat of higher world temperatures would be vastly diminished. ... Meat-eating is the number one driving force for the destruction of these forests. Two-hundred and sixty million acres of U.S. forestland has been cleared for cropland to produce the meat-centered diet. Fifty-five square feet of tropical rainforest is consumed to produce every quarter-pound of rainforest beef.  An alarming 75% of all U.S. topsoil has been lost to date. Eighty-five percent of this loss is directly related to livestock raising.

 

Hinduism Today :
“How to Win an Argument with a Meat Eater”
“The Environmental Argument against meat-eating”
http://www.eatveg.com/argument.htm
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/pamphlets/WinMeatEaterArgument.html

 

OBESITY? THAT’S NOT THE MAIN ISSUE

LACK OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
(NOT OBESITY) IS THE PROBLEM

London, UK (The Guardian) - Almost a quarter of British women are obese, and nearly as many men, according to the European health interview survey published by the EU’s statistical office Eurostat. Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver continues his campaign to improve school food, asking the prime minister to ensure that academies don’t undermine it, and again focusing on “rocketing obesity rates in the UK”.  But we’re getting the focus wrong. Obesity isn’t what’s robbing us of good health and life. Using data from the Cooper Centre Longitudinal Study exercise scientist Steven Blair and his colleagues have established that you can be fat and fit. It is better to be overweight and active than normal weight and sedentary in terms of risk of mortality, the research has shown.  Instead of paying attention to our sedentary lifestyles, we keep on focusing on fatness, Blair says.  As individuals, we just can’t resist stepping on the scales and it’s a staple of weight-loss programmes.

Physical activity is almost always a secondary consideration, and then only because of its power to help us lose weight. This narrow focus is repeated in campaigns and the media, but the obsession with how much people weigh and how much they need to lose just isn’t helping us lead longer and healthier lives, or reducing the burden on the health service.  Making up our half an hour of not being sedentary does take an effort, but at least it can be achieved in manageable 10-minute blocks, can be made part of life without having to find fresh hours in the day - and above all has the merit of being in our control. A pill that promised the same effect as just 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity each day would make headlines around the world: yet the benefits are available now for those who change their routines, and it’s free to do it.

Studies have shown that you can be fat and fit. So why are we obsessing about what we eat rather than how much we move? Anti-obesity campaigns should focus on the benefits of exercise.  Physical inactivity is the biggest health problem of the 21st century.  It isn’t about getting everyone running marathons, or setting aside the time and money they don’t have to go to the gym.  Instead, we need to put back physical activities that modern life has removed into our daily routines. One option is Hatha Yoga, which can also be practiced to fight stress, improve health and increase welfare.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?  

Hatha-yoga is one of the first types of yoga with which people become acquainted. However, it is not a separate system of yoga as many people seem to think. It is one of the eight steps of Raja-yoga. Nonetheless, it can be used separately if only for helping keep the body and mind fit and in shape.  Hatha-yoga is described in such early texts as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Gheranda Samhita and the Shiva Samhita. Lord Shiva is said to be the originator of the system found in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. This is highly regarded by the Nath tradition founded by Gorakshnath and his teacher Matyendranath, who was accepted to be a disciple of Lord Shiva.  Although it is a part of a spiritual process, when taken as an isolated exercise technique it can be completely secular as well. Thus, it is practically non-denominational and non-sectarian. Anyone from any background can use it and acquire its benefits.

Stephen Knapp (Śrīpad Nandanandana dasa) :
“Yoga and How to Get Started” - “Hatha-Yoga”
http://www.stephen-knapp.com
http://www.stephenknapp.info/
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/yoga_and_how_to_get_started.htm