last updated 12th March 2007

Russia & the CIS - Hari Krishna
http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=24127&sec=28&cont=7

"KAZAKHSTAN: Do-it-yourself demolition for embattled Hare Krishna commune?"

by Igor Rotar ("Forum 18," January 30, 2007)

Almaty, Kazakhstan - The Kazakh authorities are increasing pressure on the embattled Hare Krishna community near the commercial capital Almaty in their long-running bid to demolish the only Hare Krishna commune in Central Asia. On 29 January Viktor Golous, Chair of the Hare Krishna Commune, was summonsed to a court hearing to take place on 30 January to continue the case on the ownership of the commune's farm, Maksim Varfolomeyev of the Hare Krishna community told Forum 18 from Almaty on 31 January. At the same time, demolition notices were served on a further three Hare Krishna home owners, who were told that they must demolish their own homes within 5 days – or the authorities will carry out compulsory demolition and charge the Hare Krishna devotees the cost of this. The 5 days' notice given to the cottages' owners will expire on Friday 2 February.

No previous notice had been given to any of the three latest Hare Krishna targets of any claims filed against them, court hearings or court rulings. So they were not able to file an appeal and defend their property.

Golous appeared in court on 30 January and requested that – due to the short notice given – the hearing be adjourned until lawyers were able to appear. Judge Jurhan Zhailybayev accepted the application for an adjournment and told Golous that he could leave as notice of the new date of the hearing would be sent to him. However, after Golous left the court, Judge Zhailybayev ruled – with only one of the three defendants present – that the Hare Krishna-owned farm should be confiscated.

Members of the Sri Vrindavan Dham commune in Karasai district question who will benefit from the confiscation of their property (see forthcoming F18News article).

On 21 November, the authorities demolished 13 of the 66 houses belonging to Hare Krishna devotees at the commune. The demolitions preceded the final report of a special Commission, appointed by the authorities to – allegedly – resolve the dispute between the state and the Hare Krishna community. Hare Krishna devotees, and Kazakh human rights activists Yevgeny Zhovtis of the Kazakhstan International Bureau of Human Rights and Law Observance and Ninel Fokina of the Almaty Helsinki Committee, who were observers of the Commission, denounced it as having "shown no real desire to look into the essence of the conflict and find a mutually beneficial, intelligent and just solution" for the Krishna community.

"Furthermore," Zhovtis and Fokina continued, "the authorities constantly tried to avoid discussing the legal aspects of the issue, although the justice of the court decisions against the Krishna devotees is very doubtful". Organisation for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) officials who attended the Commission – and were denied access to the November 2006 demolitions as they were taking place – declined to comment to Forum 18 on the Commission's work or findings.

Kazakhstan routinely and unconvincingly denies that its bid to crush the Hare Krishna community is a religious freedom issue. The state strenuously insists that its attacks on the Hare Krishna community are "a purely economic dispute having no religious hidden agenda," as Amanbek Mukhashev, head of Kazakhstan's state Religious Affairs Committee, claimed to Forum 18 on 24 January.

However, Mukhashev chaired the Commission and this had both Muslim and Russian Orthodox representatives. As Varfolomeyev put it to Forum 18 on 24 January, "it's not clear what relationship representatives of these religions have to our conflict." Mukhashev – despite his insistence on this being a "purely economic" dispute – told Forum 18 that "the inclusion of Muslim and Orthodox clergy representatives in the commission was entirely logical." He continued, apparently without noticing his contradiction of his earlier claim of "no hidden religious agenda": "The population of Karasai district is basically Orthodox and Muslim and it follows that we should have regard for the views of the representatives of these faiths."

The OSCE's Advisory Council on Freedom of Religion or Belief examined the dispute last year and concluded that "state sponsored action has been focused upon members of the Hare Krishna community in a manner that suggests they have been targeted on the basis of their religious affiliation," and that "this raises serious issues regarding the enjoyment of the freedom of religion and belief." The Advisory Council stated its "willingness to meet with the Kazakh authorities in order to discuss the situation and to extend its good offices to assist in the resolution of that dispute". The Kazakh authorities have so far given no answer to the Advisory Council's 27 November 2006 offer.

However, the Foreign Ministry did send a representative to the 22 December final meeting of the Commission to read to it an 11 December letter from Deputy Foreign Minister Rapil Zhoshybayev to the Justice Ministry, of which the state Religious Affairs Committee is part. In the letter, Deputy Foreign Minister Zhoshybayev made the demonstrably untrue claim, referring to the OSCE Advisory Council's assessment and offer of assistance, that the "OSCE issued a press-release about its intention to take measures to frustrate Kazakhstan's bid for the OSCE chair in 2009."

After complaining about the worldwide protests against the demolitions, Zhoshybayev stated that Kazakh embassies had been ordered to use the following "basic arguments while performing explanatory work." They were: that "legal actions" were brought against people who "violated Kazakh law, regardless of their religious and political affiliation"; that the Hare Krishna community "is not registered in the Land Cadastre as a land owner, therefore it cannot be considered a defendant"; and finally that 10 Hare Krishna associations are "registered and function unobstructed" in the country "which excludes any possibility of religious motivation of the conflict".

However, Zhoshybayev bemoaned the fact that the information he had from embassies was that "after the demolition they find the above mentioned arguments insufficiently convincing." Gauhar Beyeseyeva, of the Cultural and Humanitarian Co-operation with International Organisations Department of the Foreign Ministry, who read out Zhoshybayev's letter, then claimed to Golous of the Hare Krishna commune: "We were denied the OSCE chairmanship specifically because of you people."

Varfolomeyev of the Hare Krishna community commented to Forum 18 that "The authorities are very dissatisfied that we brought the quarrel out into the open and did not allow them to repress us without a fuss. Now we are being accused of harming the international image of Kazakhstan. We fear that in this situation the repression against us can only get worse."

On 3 January 2007, Karasai District Prosecutors opened a criminal case against commune members, accusing them of forging documents proving their ownership of the farm. No form of investigation of this allegation – which the Hare Krishna community vehemently denies - was made by the authorities before they opened criminal proceedings. Bozhan Kokolbaev, Deputy Prosecutor of Karasai district, refused to answer any questions from Forum 18 on 30 January. The chief religious affairs specialist of the Karasai district administration, Ryskul Zhunisbayeva, on 30 January repeated the authorities' latest allegation to Forum 18. Without producing any proof of her claim, she alleged that "in 1999 three members of the Hare Krishna community registered their ownership of the land as private individuals through the use of forgery."

This allegation takes up an accusation – made without any proof – by the Commission that "the functional purpose of the plot was changed in the contract of sale-purchase which was certified by a state notary: it was changed from 'peasant farming' to 'part-time farming', which constitutes a forgery, a serious violation of law."

The Hare Krishna community observed on 16 January that the allegation is based "on copies of documents of unknown origin. The seller has the original of the contract with unchanged text," but the Hakimat (district administration) has produced an "allegedly changed document. The original of the changed document has never been presented."

The community also pointed out that that, under Kazakh law, if a court finds that forgery has been committed, the sale contract should be declared null and void and the land should be returned to the first owner – Abdykalykov. However the authorities are – in contravention of Kazakh law - seeking to give the land to the local Hakim, or administrator.

Rati Manjari of the Hare Krishna community observed to Forum 18 on 20 January that "by this new claim the authorities are preparing to cancel a 2005 Supreme Court decision that the Hare Krishna community are the bona fide purchaser and user of the land." She suggested that the authorities plan - "after they win this case" – to appeal to the Supreme Court to annul the Hare Krishna community's purchase of the land.

In a further twist, on 12 January the local Legalisation Commission produced a decision of the Karasai district court, dated 25 December 2006, that the Priozerye horticultural association (HA) that owns the land, to which Hare Krishna devotees belong, does not exist – and had not existed since 1998. "You don't exist, go away," the devotees were told.

In February 2006, home owners of the HA, including Hare Krishna devotees, voted the former head of the Ptitsevod HA, Irina Zakharchuk, out of office and renamed it Priozeriye. Varfolomeyev stated that Hare Krishna devotees had participated in the vote because Zakharchuk had "tormented" the devotees. However, the former head did not accept the vote and took her case to the court – which on 25 December invalidated the vote.

On 19 January, Hare Krishna sources reported that the Tax Police – claiming that this was a "regular scheduled inspection" - have begun a full check-up of all the community's accounting records for 2005-6. It was notable that the Tax Police paid particular attention to any documents relating to the community's land and property.

Disclaimer: WWRN does not endorse or adhere to views or opinions expressed in the articles posted. This is purely an information site, to inform interested parties of religious trends.

WASHINGTON D.C. (May 11, 2006) – An ashram belonging to members of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan was recently targeted for demolition by government authorities. According to reports, on April 25, 2006, court executors, with prior legal approval, arrived with police officials to bulldoze five of the members’ homes located on the outskirts of the city of Almaty. Though authorities were deterred from completing the demolition by the presence of many local journalists, they have expressed their commitment to return when media scrutiny subsides.

The ashram is located on a 118 acre commune which is owned by a Kazakhstani horticulture association. According to officials, the ISKCON homes were being demolished because the members of group did not privately own the land. However, ISKCON spokespersons stated that previous attempts to purchase the land were unsuccessful after their proposals were repeatedly rejected by the local hakim (governor). Though only about twelve out of the 120 members of the horticulture association owned their own land, government authorities exclusively targeted the property of the ISKCON devotees for seizure and demolition. In addition, the ISKCON members were only given a one day notice prior to the demolition of their homes in spite of a law that requires an advance warning of at least five days.

"The state is trying to reduce the whole action to an economic dispute. However, it is obvious that the rights of dozens of Kazakh citizens belonging to a religious minority are being violated," argued ISKCON spokeswoman Yekaterina Levitskaya. She went on to stress that it was “specifically members of the Krishna community who are having their dachas [country homes] confiscated."

Kazakhstan, the largest republic in Central Asia with a population of over 15 million, is comprised of over 130 ethnic groups who practice 40 religions. Ethnic Russians, who typically are traditionally members of the Russian Orthodox Church, constitute around a third of the population while ethnic Kazakhs, who are Sunni Muslims, make up half. There is also a small Jewish religious minority. Though not demographically significant, followers of ISKCON, a Hindu Vaishnavite sect, have been registered in the Karasai district since May 2002.

According to the U.S. State Department’s 2005 International Religious Freedom report, the Kazakhstani Government maintained a list of 73 minority religious groups which are protected under the Constitution. According to the same report, several of these groups, including ISKCON, reported being vilified as a threat to society and national security by media agencies including government-controlled outlets. In the past, several Members of Parliament have made inflammatory official statements expressing suspicion of minority religions. Last year, under the pretext of national security, several amendments were passed allowing the government to target minority religious groups and severely restrict religious freedom.

“The government actions against the ISKCON community amount to religious persecution and violates the civil rights guaranteed by Kazakhstani law,” asserted Pawan Deshpande, Member of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) Executive Council. “Hindus around the world should stand together to condemn this state-sponsored assault.”

The Hindu American Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3), non-partisan organization, promoting the Hindu and American ideals of understanding, tolerance and pluralism.

Read HERE how the original issue began in Kazakstan

Read HERE what the previous articles from November 2006 were

Written by HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami

Dear Maharaj/ Prabujis/ Matajis,

It is my great pleasure to inform all the devotees of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that a great service opportunity has been offered by the temple authorities of Gambhira, in Puri dham, where Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spent the final years of His manifested pastimes on this earthly planet. Kasi Mishra's house, also known as Gambhira, and the Radha Kanta math, were both under the care of the Orissa government due to 20 years of litigation. Finally, this litigation problem has been resolved and the management of the institution has been returned to the temple mahanta.

The temple has sustained much damage over the years due to lack of proper maintenance. The whole place is very dirty and the roofs and walls are falling down. The temple roof is also cracking. Additionally, the temple has a lack of proper income for the maintenance of the devotees and for deity puja—and, of course, the more the Gambhira is allowed to deteriorate, the fewer visitors it will have.

At this crucial point, the mahanta of Gambhira has requested ISKCON to extend kind assistence to him in order to protect and maintain this most holy place. Devotees from all over the world come to offer their prayers and obeisances at Gambhira. This is one of the most important places for the followers of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and must be maintained nicely.

Thus, this is a golden opportunity for devotees to render service to this most sacred cause. I request all devotees to kindly donate towards this purpose. There are many things to be fixed at the place. For the time being we have prepared a rough budget, for whatever the most urgent needs are, just to bring the situation up to  survival position. Later on, we will let you know about further opportunities for service in the development of the Gambhira.

For further information contact

Bhakti Purusottama Swami

Phone: ++ 91 9434506434

E mail: bps@pamho.net

Riyadh: Fanatic Saudi religious police destroyed a pooja room in the house of a devoted Hindu in an old district of Riyadh and deported three Hindus from there back to India as per Media reports.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or religious police, raided the flat by specific tip off from Indian Muslims to the Religous police known as Muthawas.The devoted Hindu ignored the religious police orders to stop performing his prayers.

This is the treatment Hindus receives from Muslim dominated countries like Saudi Arabia and here our leaders are making ordinances daily to make our country a better place for the Muslim population than of Saudi Arabia!

Courtesy of Vedc Culture group
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vediculture/

http://www.indiaenews.com/nepal/20070304/41904.htm

KATHMANDU, NEPAL, March 4, 2007: Thieves broke into the Pashupatinath temple here, one of the most revered Hindu shrines in the world, stealing a Deity and other valuables. By Sunday the Kathmandu police had arrested 10 people over Friday night's theft at the temple, designated as a world heritage site by the Unesco. "We are holding a meeting today to discuss the theft," officials at the Pashupatinath Area Development Trust, entrusted with the upkeep of the temple, told IANS Sunday. According to officials, thieves broke into the Laxmi Narayan temple near the main temple that houses the Pashupatinath Deity and made off with a Ganesh Deity as well as other valuables in the temple. Theft from temples and the smuggling of priceless Nepali statues and other icons is on the rise. Last month, a temple in the Bhaktapur district had its Deity and other valuables stolen

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org

FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, March 4, 2007: (HPI note: the following is a press release from the Hindu American Foundation. Hindus who have followed the California textbook controversy should take an interest in this issue. Although the change in regulations is rather technical in nature, it will dramatically impact how the next round of textbook reviews is handled by the California State Board of Education.)

The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) recently won its lawsuit against the California State Board of Education (SBE) on the grounds that illegal procedures were being used in the adoption of instructional materials, namely sixth grade social studies textbooks, for use in California public schools. The court found that the regulations used currently by the SBE were not in compliance with the requirements set forth in the California Administrative Procedures Act (APA). The purpose of the APA is to ensure that agency regulations are clear, necessary, le gally valid and available to the public. Despite the SBE conducting its textbook adoption process illegally, the judge however did not order the SBE to reopen the textbook adoption process for sixth grade social studies textbooks.

HAF would like to bring to the notice of its members and all concerned Hindus that the SBE is having a hearing on the new regulations that will be used in future adoption of not only instructional material, but curriculum frameworks and evaluation criteria. The SBE states that "the purpose of the regulations is to establish a clear, transparent process for the adoption of curriculum frameworks, evaluation criteria and instructional materials for kindergarten through grade eight in California." In the new regulations, many of the closed-door procedures used by the SBE to the detriment of California students in the textbook adoption process in 2006 will be prohibited.

Details of the March 13, 2007 public hearing in Sacramento and proposed changes to the regulation can be found at the SBE website under "Instructional Materialsl," here. http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/lr/rr/

HAF will be submitting its recommendations on the proposed guidelines to ensure that all Californians, Hindu and non-Hindu, are treated fairly and equitably in the textbook adoption process. If members of the community have comments on the proposed regulations, they are invited to submit them to us through the "Contact" section of our website, here.  http://www.hafsite.org/

http://www.timesofindia.com

PURI, INDIA, March 3, 2007: After more than 18 hours of debate, the food cooked for approximately 7,000 devotees at Puri's Jagannath Temple was thrown away on Friday. A number of priests had insisted the prasadam (food blessed by the Deity) be discarded because it had been defiled by the entry of an American non-Hindu into the temple. The mahaprasad that went to waste was estimated to be worth around US$6,800.

The throwing away of such a huge quantity of food coincided with police confirming that the US national, Paul Roediger, had managed to gain entry through a temple priest. On Thursday, priests suddenly noticed a white man near the sanctum sanctorum, infamous for barring entry to Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in 2005.

"People enter in groups and there is always the possibility of someone sneaking in," said temple administrator, Suresh Mohapatra. Police detained Mr. Roediger, who is 59, for five hours for allegedly violating the age-old temple tradition which bars non-Hindus, especially those who consume "objectionable food," from entering the shrine. Puri police said no case has been registered because there is no law under which Mr. Roediger can be charged. "Since there is no law to punish Roediger, the temple administration asked him to pay $5.00 for the mahasnana (purification ritual)," the police said.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2007/kumbh_mela_multimedia/

ALLAHADAD, INDIA, March 9, 2007: Time magazine photographer Prashant Panjiar has documented the recently held Ardh Kumbha Mela in a series of stunning black and white photos. The festival lasts 45 days at the confluence of three holy rivers, the Ganges, Yamuna and the esoterically mystical Saraswati. An estimated 70 million pilgrims gathered for this year's festival and Panjiar's photos have captured both the sadhus and the millions of humble pilgrims come to bathe. This is an above-average photo essay and commentary highlighting the world's largest spiritual gathering.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Mumbai: A man here claiming to be "god" and wanting recognition of his "divine status" on Thursday failed to get the judicial endorsement he has sought.

The Bombay High Court rejected 30-year-old Dharmendra Mishra's application, saying it was not in its jurisdiction to respond to his prayers.

"I am Vishnu, Buddha, Christ. I know everything that goes around,"  said Mishra, who also pleaded with the court that he should be given the reins of the country and the UN as he was God.

The matter came up before a division bench of acting Chief Justice J N Patel and Justice S C Dharmadhikari, who dismissed Mishra's plea.

Mishra, a resident of Kurla who works in a call centre, claimed in his petition that he had written to President Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterji, Congress Chief  Sonia Gandhi and Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan about his divinity.

He also claimed in his petition that his wife is "Laxmi", and she recollects her previous births.

Mishra told reporters that he was ready to undergo a cyanide test and claimed he would not die.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/sports/baseball/12pitcher.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

ENCINO, CALIFORNIA, February 13, 2007: A dozen of the best pitching prospects in baseball lay side by side in the dark, their eyes closed, their mouths shut, their minds open. They pulled their sweatshirt hoods over their faces. They let their feet dangle over their yoga mats. They breathed in unison, inhaling for three seconds through their noses, exhaling for five seconds through their mouths. Yoga instructor, Alan Jaeger, is putting pitchers through a training regimen which lasts five hours, and for the first four hours no one touches a baseball.

The pitchers meditate, stretch, listen to music, perform yoga poses, meditate again and listen to more music. They talk about dreams and visualize games. Two of professional baseball's most durable arms, Barry Zito of the Giants and Joel Zumaya, who plays for the Tigers, have used Jaeger's yoga practices for years. In theory, they are improving their balance, sharpening their concentration and learning to take deep breaths in the face of high anxiety.

"If you can calm yourself down in the middle of those poses, you can do it in the middle of the game," said Errol Simonitsch, a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. "That's why, before every pitch, you'll see me take a deep breath. " By thinking about his breaths, Simonitsch is limiting how much he thinks about his pitches, and he has a better chance of blocking out distractions. He simply rocks and fires. By the time he reflects on the pitch, it is already released.

This technique was popularized by Zito, who takes so many deep breaths on the mound that it can look as if he is hyperventilating. When Zumaya made his major league debut last season in Kansas City, he ran down the tunnel for a moment to do his breathing exercises. No one laughed at him, at least not after his pitch touched 103 miles an hour on the radar gun. And no one laughed at Zito, not when he signed a contract in December for $126 million.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

BBC Radio Program Explores Young Hindus in UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/heart_and_soul.shtml

LONDON, ENGLAND, February 18, 2007: The BBC has an audio program called "Heart and Soul" which is broadcast on the Internet. The description reads, "Hinduism In Britain Today: Until recently, Hindus in Britain were the quiet minority apparently untouched by the fundamentalism, or religious sensitivities experienced by other minority faiths. Now that is changing. Many are appealing for separate recognition as British Hindu rather than Asian, and the young in particular are questioning aspects of the faith that their parents and grandparents took for granted. Ritula Shah talks to the new voices of contemporary Hinduism and finds out why Britain's third largest faith group is showing a rapidly increasing confidence." Click the "audio" button on the URL above to hear the program.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

http://www.ehponline.org/press/92605.html

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 23, 2005: A study led by an Emory University researcher concludes that an organic diet given to children provides a "dramatic and immediate protective effect" against exposures to two pesticides that are commonly used in U.S. agricultural production. The results were published on a recent online version of the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). Over a fifteen-day period, Dr. Chensheng "Alex" Lu and his colleagues from Emory University, the University of Washington, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifically measured the exposure of two organophosphorus pesticides (OP)--malathion and chlorpyrifos--in 23 elementary students in the Seattle area by testing their urine. The participants, ages 3-11-years-old, were first monitored for three days on their conventional diets before the researchers substituted most of the children's conventional diets with organic food items for five consecutiv e days. The children were then re-introduced to their normal foods and monitored for an additional seven days. "Immediately after substituting organic food items for the children's normal diets, the concentration of the organophosphorus pesticides found in their bodies decreased substantially to non-detectable levels until the conventional diets were re-introduced," says Dr. Lu.

During the days when children consumed organic diets, most of their urine samples contained zero concentration for the malathion metabolite. However, once the children returned to their conventional diets, the average malathion metabolite concentration increased to 1.6 parts per billion with a concentration range from 5 to 263 parts per billion, Dr. Lu explains. A similar trend was observed for chlorpyrifos. Former research has linked organophosphorus pesticides to causes of neurological effects in animals and humans. "Recent regulatory changes aiming to minimize children's exposures to pesticides have either banned or restricted the use of many organophosphorus pesticides in the residential environment. However, fewer restrictions have been imposed in agriculture," Dr. Lu says. The study was funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

courtesy of Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com

Why do men ignore nagging wives? It's all science
http://pressesc.com/01171393773_nagging_wife_ignore

Submitted by Vidura Panditaratne on Tue, 2007-02-13 19:11.Sci | Non-geographical | News

A psychologist has found the answer to the age old question many women have about their husbands: " Why does her husband often seemed to ignore her requests for help around the house?"

New research findings now appearing online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology show that that people do not necessarily oppose others' wishes intentionally, but even the slightest nonconscious exposure to the name of a significant person in their life is enough cause them to rebel against that person's wishes.

"My husband, while very charming in many ways, has an annoying tendency of doing exactly the opposite of what I would like him to do in many situations," said Tanya L. Chartrand, an associate professor of marketing and psychology at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

When Chartrand envisioned a formal academic study of people's resistance to the wishes of their partners, parents or bosses, her husband, Gavan Fitzsimons, became not only her inspiration, but also her collaborator.

Fitzsimons is a professor of marketing and psychology at Duke who, like Chartrand, is an expert in the field of consumer psychology.

Working with Duke Ph.D. student Amy Dalton, Chartrand and Fitzsimons have demonstrated that some people will act in ways that are not to their own benefit simply because they wish to avoid doing what other people want them to.

Psychologists call this reactance: a person's tendency to resist social influences that they perceive as threats to their autonomy.

"Psychologists have known for some time that reactance can cause a person to work in opposition to another person's desires," Chartrand said. "We wanted to know whether reactance could occur even when exposure to a significant other, and their associated wishes for us, takes place at a nonconscious level."

The researchers undertook a set of experiments to determine whether reactance might occur unintentionally, completely outside of the reactant individual's conscious awareness.

In the first experiment, participants were asked to name a significant person in their lives whom they perceived to be controlling and who wanted them to work hard, and another significant and controlling person who wanted them to have fun. Participants then performed a computer-based activity during which the name of one or the other of these people was repeatedly, but subliminally, flashed on the screen. The name appeared too quickly for the participants to consciously realize they had seen it, but just long enough for the significant other to be activated in their nonconscious minds. The participants were then given a series of anagrams to solve, creating words from jumbled letters.

People who were exposed to the name of a person who wanted them to work hard performed significantly worse on the anagram task than did participants who were exposed to the name of a person who wanted them to have fun.

"Our participants were not even aware that they had been exposed to someone else's name, yet that nonconscious exposure was enough to cause them to act in defiance of what their significant other would want them to do," Fitzsimons said.

A second experiment used a similar approach and added an assessment of each participant's level of reactance. People who were more reactant responded more strongly to the subliminal cues and showed greater variation in their performance than people who were less reactant.

"The main finding of this research is that people with a tendency toward reactance may nonconsciously and quite unintentionally act in a counterproductive manner simply because they are trying to resist someone else's encroachment on their freedom," Chartrand said.

The researchers suggest that people who tend to experience reactance when their freedoms are threatened should try to be aware of situations and people who draw out their reactant tendencies. That way, they can be more mindful of their behaviors and avoid situations where they might adopt detrimental behaviors out of a sense of rebellion.

Not surprisingly perhaps, Chartrand and Fitzsimons, as wife and husband, also take home some slightly differing messages from their experiments.

Chartrand believes her husband "should now be better equipped to suppress his reactant tendencies." Fitzsimons, however, believes the results "suggest that reactance to significant others is so automatic that I can't possibly be expected to control it if I don't even know it's happening."
 

NOTE: interesting eh

HH Jayapataka swami told us in Melbourne in 1987 when I was d'head pujari there that also different genders have different resistance and how to approach each.

He told us that if you approach a woman and ask her to do something she'll be too busy or have some other excuse; got all my rounds to chant, or I'm off the alter, have to look after the kids, something - or ask my husband. But if you say the temple president has asked me to ask you, or XYZ maharaj would like you to do his washing, then she'll do - the need to feel special and or wanted (loved).

If one asks a man; hey prabhu can you give me a hand with this, usually the man will say yeah sure no problem, but if you approach him and say so and so maharaj / TP wants you to do this and this, the immediate reaction is "tell him to do it himself".....he might mellow and do it after a while.....

Women will react positively to an authority, whereas men will often rebel. Men will respond positively to a friend in need or someone appealing to their sense of false ego......

The Vedic Viewpoint and Other Spiritual Perspectives
 
First of all we have to understand that we are not these bodies. We are eternal spirit souls, part and parcel of the Supreme Soul, also known as Krishna, Jehovah, Allah, Vishnu, etc. We never die, only the body dies.

  The subtle body consists of the soul, false ego, mind and intelligence or lack of it. That is what goes with us when we so-call die.

  The Bhagavad-Gita, which is the essence of all Vedic literature and the spiritual "how to book" for all time, says; "What ever one contemplates at the time of death, they are sure to attain." At the time of death, generally one is thinking of their own body and how much pain they are in. People are much attached to their material bodies, even though it is only a vehicle for the soul within this material world. At the time of death, if one is very attached to their body, in most cases, they do not leave this world until the body is cremated. As long as the material body is intact, they remain near by or continue entering in and out of it. When the body is cremated, the soul then generally leaves to their next destination, unless of course they had committed suicide or died abruptly, by; murder, or some type of accident. They may also remain if they are very attached to another person or a place.
  Another reason we should have our dead bodies cremated is because it pollutes the environment. Just think of all the waste we are making by putting all these bodies in big boxes in the ground. Everyone is going to leave their body, that's a fact, so just think- we are going to have a place in the ground for every person's body from now until the end of time. This makes no sense, not even materially. There are so many other practical things we can do with the land. It just shows our lack of intelligence in this age.
  There are innumerable disembodied souls hanging around because no one performed a very simple ceremony that could have been done after their death. (Cremation) Burning the body after death could help that situation immensely.
  In the Vedic culture it was unheard of to preserve someone's body unless they were a pure saint or King. The reason was, that their lives where supposed to be pure and used in service of God, so it did not need to be burned, and persons could go and pray to them in the tomb and get their blessings. But most of the kings were not pure and they would even put their family members' dead bodies in the same tombs, which was against the scriptural injunctions. As time went on more and more people started having tombs instead of the scriptural recommended cremation.
  Even in the Bible it is stated, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The airtight boxes we are putting in the ground today will never become ashes or dust. Believe me; no one is going to "rest in peace" in that box. What a silly saying that is- as if when someone dies they just go to sleep in their box.
  People are worrying whether they will be buried next to some loved one or in a suitable place like the Bahamas. How ludicrous is this. If that person did things right in their life they are long gone from that body, and if not, they had better have that body burned so they can move on.
  Let's give up our mundane attachment to these nasty bodies which are just made of mucus, bile, blood, air, bones and waste. Let's get spiritual America and realize we and our friends and relatives are not these dead bodies. Ok- you don't have to throw it to the wolves, you can have a respectable ceremony for the soul who once resided in it, then burn it and throw the ashes in a river or ocean. The Ganges River is the most recommended place to put them.
  Let's stop polluting Mother Earth and wasting land space with all these silly caskets and tombstones. There are better ways of honoring the souls who have passed on other than worshiping their dead carcasses with flowers at some grave site.
  By Jayasri Radha

  For more information on this topic and Vedic Culture go to harekrishnatemple.com
  Read Bhagavad-Gita As it is translated with commentaries by Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada.
  http://denver.yourhub.com/Longmont/Stories/Faith/General-Faith/Story~260522.aspx

Vedic World Heritage links:

See our pages supporting these views HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/VWH.html (Vedik World Heritage)
Western Indologists been exposed page:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/WesternIndologists-page.htm
How British Misguided the World on Vedic History
http://www.hknet.org.nz/MotiveBritishRajMissionaries.html

Studies have shown that vegetarians are less likely to have the following conditions:

heart disease and high cholesterol
high blood pressure and stroke
cancer, especially of the colon and reproductive organs
obesity
mature-onset diabetes
gallstones and diverticular disease

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimated the medical cost of diet-related diseases in 1988 at $1.5 billion (2). Diet-related diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, stroke and cancers are precisely those that are less common among vegetarians.

A number of studies have shown a lower age-adjusted death rate among vegetarians. A UK study of over 6000 vegetarians found that they had a much lower standardised mortality rate than the general population, including lower death rates due to cancer and especially ischaemic heart disease.

The vegetarians also had fewer deaths than the meat eating friends and relatives they had nominated as a comparison group. Even though this control group was also healthier than the general population, the vegetarians were 40% less likely to die of cancer and 20% less likely to die of heart disease than their meat eating friends and relatives (3).

A 21-year study of over 27,000 Seventh Day Adventists (SDAs) in California found that there was a lower age adjusted death rate among this group than among the general population (4). Men had a lower death rate due to coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, all cancers combined, and cancer of the colon, rectum and prostate in particular. Women had a lower death rate due to stroke, diabetes, all cancers combined, and cancer of the colon, rectum, breast and ovary in particular.

The Seventh Day Adventist church encourages its followers not to eat meat or eggs, but some still do. Within the SDA group, consumption of meat was associated with overall death rate (males), coronary heart disease (males and females), and diabetes (males). Egg consumption was associated with over death rate (females), coronary heart disease (females), colon cancer (males and females), and cancer of the ovary. In other words, the more meat or eggs an individual ate, the more likely they were to die of these diseases (4).

Health benefits of a vegetarian diet have been studied most extensively in relation to diseases of the cardiovascular system, and cancers of the reproductive and digestive systems. These diseases will be discussed in separate sections. One other cancer where diet has recently been shown to play a role is Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). Among over 35,000 American women, those who developed NHL had higher intakes of animal fat, especially from red meat. On the other hand, fruit consumption had a protective effect (5). In a Norwegian study of almost 16,000 people milk consumption was associated with increased risk of developing lymphomas (6).

Other advantages of vegetarianism include weight control. Vegetarians, and especially vegans, are lighter than meat eaters, and are less likely to be obese. Among the Californian SDAs, meat eaters were 1.9 times (males) and 1.6 times (females) more likely to be overweight than vegetarians (7).

Obesity is associated with several diseases, including mature-onset diabetes and gallstones, and vegetarians are less likely to suffer from these diseases. Among the Californian SDAs, the death rate from diabetes was only 45% that of the general population. Within the group of SDAs, those who ate meat were more likely to report having diabetes (7).

A vegan diet can reverse mature-onset diabetes. When the diet recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and a vegan diet were compared over a 12-wek period:
the vegan group lost an average of 16 pounds, the ADA group 8 pounds;
fasting blood sugars decreased 59% more in the vegan group than the ADA group;
the ADA needed as much medication as before the study, while the vegan group needed much less (8).

With regard to gallstones, ultrasound showed that 18% of a group of meat eating women had symptomless gallstones, compared to 10% in vegetarians. In addition, around 7% of the meat eaters had undergone a cholecystectomy compared to 2% of vegetarians. The meat eaters were almost twice as likely as the vegetarians to develop gallstones, even when age and body mass were taken into account (9).

Diverticular disease occurs in about 1 in 3 people over 45, and in 2 in 3 people over 85 in North America. Small pouches are formed in the wall of the colon, often as a result of constipation. If bacteria accumulate in the pouches, they can produce inflammation and cramp-like pains.

In over 47,000 men over a 4 year period, the risk of developing symptoms of diverticular disease was positively associated with red meat and negatively associated with fibre. In other words, the more meat the men ate, the more likely they were to develop the disease. On the other hand, the more fibre they ate, the less likely they were to develop the disease (10).

In a UK study, symptomless diverticular disease was much more common in meat eaters (33%) than in vegetarians (12%). The vegetarians, on average, ate almost twice as much fibre as the meat eaters, especially cereal fibre, which is important to increase stool bulk and to decrease the time it takes food to move through the digestive system (11). Vegetarians are much less likely to be constipated than meat eaters (12).

In a Greek study, people who suffered from diverticulosis ate less vegetables, brown bread, potatoes and fruit, and more meat and dairy products than people who remained healthy (13).

In summary, vegetarians are less likely to suffer from heart disease, high blood pressure, cancers (especially of the reproductive and digestive systems), obesity, diabetes, gallstones and diverticular disease. A low fat vegetarian diet can not only reduce the personal suffering involved in ill-health, it can also save the community money be decreasing diet-related diseases.

See our World Vegetarian Day Newsletters 2004 - 2005 - World Vege Day

See similar articles at Vegetarianism & beyond:
http://turn.to/Vegetarianism

LALU AND KALU

Lalu and Kalu refused to learn anything. They were just scamps. All they wanted to do was fritter away their lives. So they refused to learn anything. Their father was trying by so many ways to get them educated, and by so many ways they were driving the teachers away by their rascal behaviour. So because the father was wealthy, he proclaimed, "I will give half the wealth of my business to any teacher who can simply educate my two boys in simple arithmetic, because if they can learn how to add up sums, then they can at least later in life do some business. I can give them some part of my business, and they can carry on. But they must at least learn how to add up sums. If they can't do that, then they'll be totally useless to me."
So he proclaimed this, and then one old brahmana came. The brahmana was very old. He had seen a lot of life, and he'd seen many different kinds of bad students, so he was quite experienced. So he said, "Let me give it a try." Unlike all the other teachers, he wasn't acting like a teacher. He decided, "I'll act like I'm the friend of these boys." So then he said, "Boys, let's forget about these lessons and go for a walk." So he took Lalu and Kalu for a walk, and took them out to the field, and there were some cows grazing there.
So then he turned to Lalu and said, "Lalu, I wonder if you could tell me how many legs that cow has." So then Lalu very eagerly said, "Yes. One, two..." he began to count and the teacher was thinking, "Ah, he's learning, very good." But then Kalu put his hand over Lalu's mouth. "Don't say any more! He's trying to trick you! He wants to teach you how to count. Therefore he's asking you how many legs that cow has. Don't say another word." This is the crafty cunningness of the materialist. This Kalu thought he was being so clever in outwitting the teacher, but this cleverness is simply the symptom of his own foolishness, his own rascaldom.
The teacher was trying in so many ways to trick the boys, but they were so clever, so over intelligent, that they avoided any lesson that the teacher tried to get them to take up. So finally, the old brahmana became tired. He said, "Well boys, it's been a hard day. I'm going to take a nap." So they retired in some room. "Let's lay down here and take rest." So the boys pretended to go to sleep. But they waited and when they saw that the teacher was snoring peacefully, they got up and started smoking, because they were rascals. And then the teacher woke up suddenly. The boys very quickly threw the cigarettes out the window and jumped back into bed and pretended that they were sleeping. The teacher looked around and saw smoke in the air, he smelt it. He woke up the boys. "What have you been doing? You've been smoking!" The boys pretended like they were being woken up. "Hm? What are you saying? Smoking? We've been sleeping."
The teacher said, "No no, look. The room is filled with smoke. Obviously you've been smoking." So the boys began to argue with the teacher. "No no. Obviously what has happened is that why we were all sleeping, some person came in here and was smoking. Someone else."
The teacher grabbed their hands and smelt them. "No! I can smell on your fingers cigarette smoke!" Then they boys just persisted, "No no, obviously what has happened is that the man who came in here to smoke placed the cigarettes between our fingers and was holding our hands to his mouth and smoking like that."
So then the old brahmana was finally driven to distraction. He went to the boy's father, and said, "I'm sorry. I can do nothing with them. They're such rascals. They continually persist in their rascaldom."

MORAL: This is what's going on today also. The so called intelligence and expertise shown by today's materialists is just like that. It is actually a demonstration of their own incapacity to understand the simple truth of life.

See similar inspirational snippets HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/parables.htm

Topical Articles:
Abortion - http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-abortion.htm
Genetic Engineering ( GE or GM ) - http://www.hknet.org.nz/GE.html
Environment - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Environment.htm
Encroachment - http://www.hknet.org.nz/WE-Day2004.html
Cloning - http://www.hknet.org.nz/cloning.htm
Science - http://www.hknet.org.nz/science2KC.html
Cow Protection - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Cow-protection.htm
The Four Regulative Principles of Freedom - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Regs-4page.htm
seX-files - http://www.hknet.org.nz/seX-files.htm
Mundane Knowledge - http://www.hknet.org.nz/mundaneknowledge.html
Death (Yamaduttas - Terminal Restlessness etc)- http://www.hknet.org.nz/death.html
Near Death Experience - http://www.hknet.org.nz/NDE.htm
Ghosts - http://www.hknet.org.nz/ghosts.htm
Reincarnation again here - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Reincarnation-page.htm
Gain some insights in the TV culture  - http://www.hknet.org.nz/television.html
The aweful Truth about softdrinks - http://www.hknet.org.nz/theREALthing.html
Changing the face of the Earth - http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1390/index.html
UFOs - http://www.hknet.org.nz/UFOs.html
Vegetarianism & Beyond - http://turn.to/Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism in the major Religions - All manner of religions
Articles for newcomers to Krishna consciousness - http://www.krishna.com/newsite/main.php?id=87
Self Help and Motivational pages - Deals and Affiliate programs: - http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-selfhelp.html
Myth of the Aryan invasion by Dr. David Frawley: - http://www.hknet.org.nz/Aryan-invasion-mythDF.html

The Peace Formula - (By HDG Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada) http://www.hknet.org.nz/PeaceFormula.html

.........many other articles - http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-articles.htm

and from there go to the Main Index http://www.hknet.org.nz/index.htm

Iskcon News Articles now available - many topical insights
http://www.iskcon.com/new/index.html

Paradigms - where things are not all they seem

 The Peace Formula
http://www.hknet.org.nz/PeaceFormula.html

The Real Peace Formula
http://www.hknet.org.nz/PeaceRealF.html

See more on Yoga and Meditation HERE:
http://www.hknet.org.nz/index-yoga.html

World Vegetarian Day October 1st yearly &
World Vegetarian Awareness Month of October yearly
...please visit our links and see what you can do to help

World Smoke Free Day
31st May Every Year 

http://www.be-free.org/b-media/market-bfree03/cinema.php

yeah kick the butt
...and remember from 10th December 2004 no more smoking in public places in New Zealand by law