last updated 1st March 2008

Kazakhstani online petition

Kazakhstani online petition

By Radha Mohan Dasa

Please visit http://www.krishnatemple.com NOW and click the link to the new petition, or go straight to the petition webpage:

http://harekrishna.epetitions.net

Please sign it soon as you can, and please tell as many people as you can about it.

Background: Workers and police arrived on 15th June at the village near Almaty, Kazakhstan, where the embattled Hare Krishna commune is based to demolish twelve more Hare Krishna-owned homes. “The houses were literally crushed into dust. By ten o’clock it was all over,” said ISKCON spokesperson Maksim Varfolomeyev.

The temple, which the devotees have been ordered to destroy, has not been touched but the devotees fear it could be the next target. Human rights activist Yevgeny Zhovtis is outraged at the continuing destruction. “The authorities are showing that they will do what they want, despite the international outrage at the earlier demolitions of Hare Krishna-owned homes.” He believes the local administration chief “doesn’t care about the political damage to Kazakhstan’s reputation – or to its desire to chair the OSCE.”

ys Radha Mohan das

Kazak Edition of Bhagavad-gita presented to Srila Prabhupada.
This is now the 55th language in which Bhagavad-gita has been printed.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan -- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev criticized foreign missionaries on Thursday as a threat to national stability and urged lawmakers to curb their activities.

The mainly Muslim country has positioned itself as an area of stability in the potentially volatile Central Asian region. But some rights groups have criticized its treatment of small groups such as Hare Krishna.

Speaking at a congress of the Nur-Otan party, which holds all seats in the lower house of the parliament, Nazarbayev said foreign missionaries posed a threat to secularity.

"We are a secular state where religion is separated from the state, but this does not mean Kazakhstan should become a dumping ground for all kinds of religious movements," he said the veteran leader, without naming any groups.

"There are tens of thousands of missionary organizations working in Kazakhstan today. We don't know what their aims are. ... We cannot leave it like that and let them do something that our country does not need," he said.

Nazarbayev often singles out ethnic and religious accord as one of his main achievements in the country, which has a large Orthodox Christian community.

But Western human rights groups say religious intolerance toward smaller groups is on the rise.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe criticized Kazakhstan last year for destroying houses belonging to followers of Hare Krishna, who practice yoga and vegetarianism in a village near Almaty.

Read HERE how the original issue began in Kazakstan

Read HERE what the previous articles from November 2006 were

Iskcon Kazakstan
http://www.palaceofthesoul.com/news/index.php

PLEASE VISIT THIS PAGE
http://kazakhkrishna.com/en-main/

Kazakh
http://vedabase.net/kazakhstan/

Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Here is a unit of activities for ages 2-18, centered around Lord Caitanya’s Appearance Day.

It’s designed for parents who homeschool, or who have their children in non-devotee school and want to do something in the mornings, afternoons, or weekends.

It can be used by devotee schools, once-a-week programs, or the festival coordinator who wants to do something special for the children for Gaura Purnima.

This is a first printing, and all comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome. We hope to produce many more of this, and with much expanded resources.

Your servant, Urmila devi dasi

Click here for full screen mode - (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=412948)
To download it as pdf click here (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/DownloadDoc.aspx?docID=412948)

See the article here http://www.dandavats.com/wp-content/plugins/post2pdf/generate.php?post=5381

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/25apology.htm

NEW YORK, February 25, 2008: A wholehearted apology from a Christian community to Hindus worldwide, which also denounced proselytization by Christian missionaries, has triggered a debate among pastors across the United States.

The apology, tendered by Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Los Angeles, is arguably the first of its kind by a major Christian congregation, and was issued "for centuries-old acts of religious discrimination by Christians, including attempts to convert them."

While some Episcopal Christians have protested against the apology, made during a special Mass on January 19 in the presence of over 100 HIndu spiritual leaders and lay people, organizers of the event insist it was the right step in the right direction.

"I believe that the world cannot afford for us to repeat the errors of our past, in which we sought to dominate rather than to serve," Bruno said in a statement. "In this spirit, and in order to take another step in building trust between our two great religious traditions, I offer a sincere apology to the Hindu religious community."

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

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17134270

DELHI, INDIA, FEBRUARY 17, 2008: Hindus have always believed that water from India's Ganges River has extraordinary powers. The Indian emperor Akbar called it the "water of immortality" and always traveled with a supply. The British East India Co. used only Ganges water on its ships during the three-month journey back to England, because it stayed "sweet and fresh."

Indians have always claimed it prevents diseases, but are the claims wives' tales or do they have scientific substance?

Independent producer Julian Crandall Hollick searched for the "mysterious X factor" that gives Ganges water its mythical reputation.

He starts his investigation looking for the water's special properties at the river's source in the Himalayas. There, wild plants, radioactive rocks, and unusually cold, fast-running water combine to form the river. But since 1854, almost all of the Ganges' water has been siphoned off for irrigation as it leaves the Himalayas.

Hollick speaks with DS Bhargava, a retired professor of hydrology, who has spent a lifetime performing experiments up and down Ganges in the plains of India. In most rivers, Bhargava says, organic material usually exhausts a river's available oxygen and starts putrefying. But in the Ganges, an unknown substance acts on organic materials and bacteria and kills them. Bhargava says that the Ganges' self-purifying quality leads to oxygen levels higher than any other river in the world.

The best answer for the Ganges' mysterious substance may come from Jay Ramachandran, a molecular biologist and entrepreneur in Bangalore. In a short science lesson, Ramachandran explains that benign microorganisms fight the harmful bacteria found in the water. But even the scholar can't, however, explain why the river alone has this extraordinary ability to retain oxygen.

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

http://www.atmayogi.com/node/616
by Sita-pati dasa

My mother wrote to me about my recent article on Dandavats.com "Women, ISKCON, and Varnashram" (http://www.dandavats.com/?p=5366)

In her email she said:
God made each of us unique with full and varied skills and the ability to enhance each other side by side, inter-dependently not dependently or independently.

I had lunch with John Maxwell, the famous Leadership author and educator, in Sydney a few years ago. Over lunch someone asked him: "John, you're a well respected author and expert on Leadership. So tell us - who's the leader in your home?"

Everyone had a good laugh at this question, and then John answered.

"As I have been explaining, we lead in areas where we have strength, and we follow others in our areas of weakness when others have strength. So in areas where I have strengths I lead, and areas where Margaret is stronger she leads."

Earlier on in the day Tri Yuga das (http://triyuga.terapad.com/), who was attending Maxwell's leadership seminar with me, had asked about "Leadership Aptitudes" (http://www.urbanmissionary.info/index.php?p=378), and John had explained this point - that every person has strengths and weaknesses, and our strengths and weaknesses are complementary. He advocates what he calls "Team Leadership" - leadership by teams of people with complementary strengths who work together in a synergistic way, contributing from their strengths and balancing out each others' weaknesses.

My point is that traditionally as a class men have contributed in the area of protection, and women have contributed in the area of nurturing. Of course in individual situations there are variations of degree even to the point of role reversal, but broadly speaking, in terms of "classes", this has been the case.

The problem arises when a person no longer contributes in an area, but still demands that all the externals of the arrangement should remain the same. This is where a dynamic synergistic relationship has degenerated into a empty husk of social form. This situation leads to exploitation and oppression and is always followed by rebellion and revolution.

The principle is the same whether we are talking about social classes, economic classes, positions of authority in a family, a society, a corporation, a church, or any other arrangement of mass human endeavour.

So I do not advocate "telling people what to do". I advocate making a contribution from your area of strength. That's the point that I'm making. It's not about "authority", it's about service. I think this is the counter-point (in this sense of the word -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpoint) to the point that Krishna-kirti prabhu is making in his presentation.

Have a look at this booklet that I wrote on the subject of leadership and authority, especially in spiritual organizations: On Leadership (http://www.atmayogi.com/files/On%20Leadership.pdf), for a more detailed exposition of these ideas.

Hang out at a playground, visit a school, or show up at a child's birthday party, and there's one phrase you can count on hearing repeatedly: "Good job!" Even tiny infants are praised for smacking their hands together ("Good clapping!"). Many of us blurt out these judgments of our children to the point that it has become almost a verbal tic.

Plenty of books and articles advise us against relying on punishment, from spanking to forcible isolation ("time out"). Occasionally someone will even ask us to rethink the practice of bribing children with stickers or food. But you'll have to look awfully hard to find a discouraging word about what is euphemistically called positive reinforcement.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, the point here is not to call into question the importance of supporting and encouraging children, the need to love them and hug them and help them feel good about themselves. Praise, however, is a different story entirely. Here's why.

1. Manipulating children. Suppose you offer a verbal reward to reinforce the behavior of a two-year-old who eats without spilling, or a five-year-old who cleans up her art supplies. Who benefits from this? Is it possible that telling kids they've done a good job may have less to do with their emotional needs than with our convenience?

Rheta DeVries, a professor of education at the University of Northern Iowa, refers to this as "sugar-coated control." Very much like tangible rewards – or, for that matter, punishments – it's a way of doing something to children to get them to comply with our wishes. It may be effective at producing this result (at least for a while), but it's very different from working with kids – for example, by engaging them in conversation about what makes a classroom (or family) function smoothly, or how other people are affected by what we have done -- or failed to do. The latter approach is not only more respectful but more likely to help kids become thoughtful people.

The reason praise can work in the short run is that young children are hungry for our approval. But we have a responsibility not to exploit that dependence for our own convenience. A "Good job!" to reinforce something that makes our lives a little easier can be an example of taking advantage of children's dependence. Kids may also come to feel manipulated by this, even if they can't quite explain why.

2. Creating praise junkies. To be sure, not every use of praise is a calculated tactic to control children's behavior. Sometimes we compliment kids just because we're genuinely pleased by what they've done. Even then, however, it's worth looking more closely. Rather than bolstering a child's self-esteem, praise may increase kids' dependence on us. The more we say, "I like the way you…." or "Good ______ing," the more kids come to rely on our evaluations, our decisions about what's good and bad, rather than learning to form their own judgments. It leads them to measure their worth in terms of what will lead us to smile and dole out some more approval.

Mary Budd Rowe, a researcher at the University of Florida, discovered that students who were praised lavishly by their teachers were more tentative in their responses, more apt to answer in a questioning tone of voice ("Um, seven?"). They tended to back off from an idea they had proposed as soon as an adult disagreed with them. And they were less likely to persist with difficult tasks or share their ideas with other students.

In short, "Good job!" doesn't reassure children; ultimately, it makes them feel less secure. It may even create a vicious circle such that the more we slather on the praise, the more kids seem to need it, so we praise them some more. Sadly, some of these kids will grow into adults who continue to need someone else to pat them on the head and tell them whether what they did was OK. Surely this is not what we want for our daughters and sons.

3. Stealing a child's pleasure. Apart from the issue of dependence, a child deserves to take delight in her accomplishments, to feel pride in what she's learned how to do. She also deserves to decide when to feel that way. Every time we say, "Good job!", though, we're telling a child how to feel.

To be sure, there are times when our evaluations are appropriate and our guidance is necessary -- especially with toddlers and preschoolers. But a constant stream of value judgments is neither necessary nor useful for children's development. Unfortunately, we may not have realized that "Good job!" is just as much an evaluation as "Bad job!" The most notable feature of a positive judgment isn't that it's positive, but that it's a judgment. And people, including kids, don't like being judged.

I cherish the occasions when my daughter manages to do something for the first time, or does something better than she's ever done it before. But I try to resist the knee-jerk tendency to say, "Good job!" because I don't want to dilute her joy. I want her to share her pleasure with me, not look to me for a verdict. I want her to exclaim, "I did it!" (which she often does) instead of asking me uncertainly, "Was that good?"

4. Losing interest. "Good painting!" may get children to keep painting for as long as we keep watching and praising. But, warns Lilian Katz, one of the country's leading authorities on early childhood education, "once attention is withdrawn, many kids won't touch the activity again." Indeed, an impressive body of scientific research has shown that the more we reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward. Now the point isn't to draw, to read, to think, to create – the point is to get the goody, whether it's an ice cream, a sticker, or a "Good job!"

In a troubling study conducted by Joan Grusec at the University of Toronto, young children who were frequently praised for displays of generosity tended to be slightly less generous on an everyday basis than other children were. Every time they had heard "Good sharing!" or "I'm so proud of you for helping," they became a little less interested in sharing or helping. Those actions came to be seen not as something valuable in their own right but as something they had to do to get that reaction again from an adult. Generosity became a means to an end.

Does praise motivate kids? Sure. It motivates kids to get praise. Alas, that's often at the expense of commitment to whatever they were doing that prompted the praise.

5. Reducing achievement. As if it weren't bad enough that "Good job!" can undermine independence, pleasure, and interest, it can also interfere with how good a job children actually do. Researchers keep finding that kids who are praised for doing well at a creative task tend to stumble at the next task – and they don't do as well as children who weren't praised to begin with.

Why does this happen? Partly because the praise creates pressure to "keep up the good work" that gets in the way of doing so. Partly because their interest in what they're doing may have declined. Partly because they become less likely to take risks – a prerequisite for creativity – once they start thinking about how to keep those positive comments coming.

More generally, "Good job!" is a remnant of an approach to psychology that reduces all of human life to behaviors that can be seen and measured. Unfortunately, this ignores the thoughts, feelings, and values that lie behind behaviors. For example, a child may share a snack with a friend as a way of attracting praise, or as a way of making sure the other child has enough to eat. Praise for sharing ignores these different motives. Worse, it actually promotes the less desirable motive by making children more likely to fish for praise in the future.
*

Once you start to see praise for what it is – and what it does – these constant little evaluative eruptions from adults start to produce the same effect as fingernails being dragged down a blackboard. You begin to root for a child to give his teachers or parents a taste of their own treacle by turning around to them and saying (in the same saccharine tone of voice), "Good praising!"

Still, it's not an easy habit to break. It can seem strange, at least at first, to stop praising; it can feel as though you're being chilly or withholding something. But that, it soon becomes clear, suggests that we praise more because we need to say it than because children need to hear it. Whenever that's true, it's time to rethink what we're doing.

What kids do need is unconditional support, love with no strings attached. That's not just different from praise – it's the opposite of praise. "Good job!" is conditional. It means we're offering attention and acknowledgement and approval for jumping through our hoops, for doing things that please us.

This point, you'll notice, is very different from a criticism that some people offer to the effect that we give kids too much approval, or give it too easily. They recommend that we become more miserly with our praise and demand that kids "earn" it. But the real problem isn't that children expect to be praised for everything they do these days. It's that we're tempted to take shortcuts, to manipulate kids with rewards instead of explaining and helping them to develop needed skills and good values.

So what's the alternative? That depends on the situation, but whatever we decide to say instead has to be offered in the context of genuine affection and love for who kids are rather than for what they've done. When unconditional support is present, "Good job!" isn't necessary; when it's absent, "Good job!" won't help.

If we're praising positive actions as a way of discouraging misbehavior, this is unlikely to be effective for long. Even when it works, we can't really say the child is now "behaving himself"; it would be more accurate to say the praise is behaving him. The alternative is to work with the child, to figure out the reasons he's acting that way. We may have to reconsider our own requests rather than just looking for a way to get kids to obey. (Instead of using "Good job!" to get a four-year-old to sit quietly through a long class meeting or family dinner, perhaps we should ask whether it's reasonable to expect a child to do so.)

We also need to bring kids in on the process of making decisions. If a child is doing something that disturbs others, then sitting down with her later and asking, "What do you think we can do to solve this problem?" will likely be more effective than bribes or threats. It also helps a child learn how to solve problems and teaches that her ideas and feelings are important. Of course, this process takes time and talent, care and courage. Tossing off a "Good job!" when the child acts in the way we deem appropriate takes none of those things, which helps to explain why "doing to" strategies are a lot more popular than "working with" strategies.

And what can we say when kids just do something impressive? Consider three possible responses:

* Say nothing. Some people insist a helpful act must be "reinforced" because, secretly or unconsciously, they believe it was a fluke. If children are basically evil, then they have to be given an artificial reason for being nice (namely, to get a verbal reward). But if that cynicism is unfounded – and a lot of research suggests that it is – then praise may not be necessary.

* Say what you saw. A simple, evaluation-free statement ("You put your shoes on by yourself" or even just "You did it") tells your child that you noticed. It also lets her take pride in what she did. In other cases, a more elaborate description may make sense. If your child draws a picture, you might provide feedback – not judgment – about what you noticed: "This mountain is huge!" "Boy, you sure used a lot of purple today!"

If a child does something caring or generous, you might gently draw his attention to the effect of his action on the other person: "Look at Abigail's face! She seems pretty happy now that you gave her some of your snack." This is completely different from praise, where the emphasis is on how you feel about her sharing
* Talk less, ask more. Even better than descriptions are questions. Why tell him what part of his drawing impressed you when you can ask him what he likes best about it? Asking "What was the hardest part to draw?" or "How did you figure out how to make the feet the right size?" is likely to nourish his interest in drawing. Saying "Good job!", as we've seen, may have exactly the opposite effect.

This doesn't mean that all compliments, all thank-you's, all expressions of delight are harmful. We need to consider our motives for what we say (a genuine expression of enthusiasm is better than a desire to manipulate the child's future behavior) as well as the actual effects of doing so. Are our reactions helping the child to feel a sense of control over her life -- or to constantly look to us for approval? Are they helping her to become more excited about what she's doing in its own right – or turning it into something she just wants to get through in order to receive a pat on the head.

It's not a matter of memorizing a new script, but of keeping in mind our long-term goals for our children and watching for the effects of what we say. The bad news is that the use of positive reinforcement really isn't so positive. The good news is that you don't have to evaluate in order to encourage.

My dearest friend and confidante HG Sri-Kishore Prabhu (Satish More), currently working for his Masters degree in Film at Ohio University, was recently interviewed on Vocal Profiling Live, a local Ohio radio program. In the interview, Sri-Kishore reveals his deeply compassionate motivations and mission behind his upcoming documentary project. After listening, I became more proud to have this very special soul in my life. You may feel the same too...

http://www.vocalprofilinglive.com/media/radio/shows/satish.mp3 (click to listen)

Here's the blurb on the interview from Vocal Profiling Live

"A tantalizing conversation with, Satish More, a film maker who shared information about sustainability and ecological degradation and how frivolous and thoughtless people in First World countries are. His next film will concentrate on the desensitization of the American psyche and how we are numbed by the media. He feels that people are "burning with dissatisfaction" and really want to have a more meaningful life. He suggests that we start with moving motivation to an internal perspective and that TRUTH and TRUST of one's self and one significant partner is the place to start turning around our lives into one of significance and contentment. Satish is a former actor/singer/computer programmer who wants to make a difference and move people away from consumerism. Satish can be reached at moresatish@gmail.com or 408-835-3639"

READ MORE on Environmental Issues HERE

[Most Respected President Ma'am, Namaskar. I have been warning the policy makers in India since the last so many years. Now that the grisly story is unfolding I do hope that IMMEDIATE action will be taken. The Precautionary Principle and the Nuremberg Code prohibits dangerous experimentation on humans. If vaccines are not banned forthwith and a public debate not initiated on the matter my mails on the subject will provide the paper trail for holding the politicians, top policy makers and scientists of India RESPONSIBLE for the tragedy that has overtaken 40 lakh unfortunate children of this great country. It is a SHAME that our leaders and scientists prefer to look the other way as infants are being sacrificed on the altar of an imperfect science whose very basis has been scientifically questioned many a times. There can be no excuse for pumping mercury and other heavy metals, deadly neurotoxins, proven carcinogens, untested antibiotics, contaminated
 serum, and multiple live viruses into infants in the name of "immunising" them. VACCINES SHOULD GO. - Jagannath Chatterjee]

After years of insisting there is no evidence to link vaccines with the onset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the US government has quietly conceded a vaccine-autism case in the Court of Federal Claims.

The unprecedented concession was filed on November 9, and sealed to protect the plaintiff's identify. It was obtained through individuals unrelated to the case.
The claim, one of 4,900 autism cases currently pending in Federal "Vaccine Court," was conceded by US Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler and other Justice Department officials, on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, the "defendant" in all Vaccine Court cases.

The child's claim against the government -- that mercury-containing vaccines were the cause of her autism -- was supposed to be one of three "test cases" for the thimerosal-autism theory currently under consideration by a three-member panel of Special Masters, the presiding justices in Federal Claims Court.
Keisler wrote that medical personnel at the HHS Division of Vaccine Injury Compensation (DVIC) had reviewed the case and "concluded that compensation is appropriate."
The doctors conceded that the child was healthy and developing normally until her 18-month well-baby visit, when she received vaccinations against nine different diseases all at once (two contained thimerosal).

Days later, the girl began spiraling downward into a cascade of illnesses and setbacks that, within months, presented as symptoms of autism, including: No response to verbal direction; loss of language skills; no eye contact; loss of "relatedness;" insomnia; incessant screaming; arching; and "watching the florescent lights repeatedly during examination."

Seven months after vaccination, the patient was diagnosed by Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a leading neurologist at the Kennedy Krieger Children's Hospital Neurology Clinic, with "regressive encephalopathy (brain disease) with features consistent with autistic spectrum disorder, following normal development." The girl also met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) official criteria for autism.

In its written concession, the government said the child had a pre-existing mitochondrial disorder that was "aggravated" by her shots, and which ultimately resulted in an ASD diagnosis.

"The vaccinations received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder," the concession says, "which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of ASD."

This statement is good news for the girl and her family, who will now be compensated for the lifetime of care she will require. But its implications for the larger vaccine-autism debate, and for public health policy in general, are not as certain.
In fact, the government's concession seems to raise more questions than it answers.

1) Is there a connection between vaccines, mitochondrial disorders and a diagnosis of autism, at least in some cases?
Mitochondria, you may recall from biology class, are the little powerhouses within cells that convert food into electrical energy, partly through a complex process called "oxidative phosphorylation." If this process is impaired, mitochondrial disorder will ensue.
The child in this case had several markers for Mt disease, which was confirmed by muscle biopsy. Mt disease is often marked by lethargy, poor muscle tone, poor food digestion and bowel problems, something found in many children diagnosed with autism.
But mitochondrial disorders are rare in the general population, affecting some 2-per-10,000 people (or just 0.2%). So with 4,900 cases filed in Vaccine Court, this case should be the one and only, extremely rare instance of Mt disease in all the autism proceedings.
But it is not.
Mitochondrial disorders are now thought to be the most common disease associated with ASD. Some journal articles and other analyses have estimated that 10% to 20% of all autism cases may involve mitochondrial disorders, which would make them one thousand times more common among people with ASD than the general population.
Another article, published in the Journal of Child Neurology and co-authored by Dr. Zimmerman, showed that 38% of Kennedy Krieger Institute autism patients studied had one marker for impaired oxidative phosphorylation, and 47% had a second marker.
The authors -- who reported on a case-study of the same autism claim conceded in Vaccine Court -- noted that "children who have (mitochondrial-related) dysfunctional cellular energy metabolism might be more prone to undergo autistic regression between 18 and 30 months of age if they also have infections or immunizations at the same time."
An interesting aspect of Mt disease in autism is that, with ASD, the mitochondrial disease seems to be milder than in "classic" cases of Mt disorder. In fact, classic Mt disease is almost always inherited, either passed down by the mother through mitochondrial DNA, or by both parents through nuclear DNA.
In autism-related Mt disease, however, the disorder is not typically found in other family members, and instead appears to be largely of the sporadic variety, which may now account for 75% of all mitochondrial disorders.
Meanwhile, an informal survey of seven families of children with cases currently pending in Vaccine Court revealed that all seven showed markers for mitochondrial dysfunction, dating back to their earliest medical tests. The facts in all seven claims mirror the case just conceded by the government: Normal development followed by vaccination, immediate illness, and rapid decline culminating in an autism diagnosis.

2) With 4,900 cases pending, and more coming, will the government concede those with underlying Mt disease -- and if it not, will the Court award compensation?
The Court will soon begin processing the 4900 cases pending before it. What if 10% to 20% of them can demonstrate the same Mt disease and same set of facts as those in the conceded case? Would the government be obliged to concede 500, or even 1,000 cases? What impact would that have on public opinion? And is there enough money currently in the vaccine injury fund to cover so many settlements?
When asked for a comment last week about the court settlement, a spokesman for HHS furnished the following written statement:
"DVIC has reviewed the scientific information concerning the allegation that vaccines cause autism and has found no credible evidence to support the claim. Accordingly, in every case under the Vaccine Act, DVIC has maintained the position that vaccines do not cause autism, and has never concluded in any case that autism was caused by vaccination."

3) If the government is claiming that vaccines did not "cause" autism, but instead aggravated a condition to "manifest" as autism, isn't that a very fine distinction?
For most affected families, such linguistic gymnastics is not so important. And even if a vaccine injury "manifested" as autism in only one case, isn't that still a significant development worthy of informing the public?
On the other hand, perhaps what the government is claiming is that vaccination resulted in the symptoms of autism, but not in an actual, factually correct diagnosis of autism itself.

4) If the government is claiming that this child does NOT have autism, then how many other children might also have something else that merely "mimics" autism?
Is it possible that 10%-20% of the cases that we now label as "autism," are not autism at all, but rather some previously undefined "look-alike" syndrome that merely presents as "features" of autism?
This question gets to the heart of what autism actually is. The disorder is defined solely as a collection of features, nothing more. If you have the features (and the diagnosis), you have the disorder. The underlying biology is the great unknown.
But let's say the government does determine that these kids don't have actual "autism" (something I speculated on HuffPost a year ago). Then shouldn't the Feds go back and test all people with ASD for impaired oxidative phosphorylation, perhaps reclassifying many of them?
If so, will we then see "autism" cases drop by tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people? Will there be a corresponding ascension of a newly described disorder, perhaps something like "Vaccine Aggravated Mitochondrial Disease with Features of ASD?"
And if this child was technically "misdiagnosed" with DSM-IV autism by Dr Zimmerman, how does he feel about HHS doctors issuing a second opinion re-diagnosis of his patient, whom they presumably had neither met nor examined? (Zimmerman declined an interview).
And along those lines, aren't Bush administration officials somewhat wary of making long-distance, retroactive diagnoses from Washington, given that the Terry Schiavo incident has not yet faded from national memory?

5) Was this child's Mt disease caused by a genetic mutation, as the government implies, and wouldn't that have manifested as "ASD features" anyway?
In the concession, the government notes that the patient had a "single nucleotide change" in the mitochondrial DNA gene T2387C, implying that this was the underlying cause of her manifested "features" of autism.
While it's true that some inherited forms of Mt disease can manifest as developmental delays, (and even ASD in the form of Rhett Syndrome) these forms are linked to identified genetic mutations, of which T2387C is not involved. In fact little, if anything, is known about the function of this particular gene.
What's more, there is no evidence that this girl, prior to vaccination, suffered from any kind of "disorder" at all- genetic, mitochondrial or otherwise. Some forms of Mt disease are so mild that the person is unaware of being affected. This perfectly developing girl may have had Mt disorder at the time of vaccination, but nobody detected, or even suspected it.
And, there is no evidence to suggest that this girl would have regressed into symptoms consistent with a DSM-IV autism diagnosis without her vaccinations. If there was such evidence, then why on earth would these extremely well-funded government attorneys compensate this alleged injury in Vaccine Court? Why wouldn't they move to dismiss, or at least fight the case at trial?

6) What are the implications for research?
The concession raises at least two critical research questions: What are the causes of Mt dysfunction; and how could vaccines aggravate that dysfunction to the point of "autistic features?"
While some Mt disorders are clearly inherited, the "sporadic" form is thought to account for 75% of all cases, according to the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. So what causes sporadic Mt disease? "Medicines or other toxins," says the Cleveland Clinic, a leading authority on the subject.
Use of the AIDS drug AZT, for example, can cause Mt disorders by deleting large segments of mitochondrial DNA. If that is the case, might other exposures to drugs or toxins (i.e., thimerosal, mercury in fish, air pollution, pesticides, live viruses) also cause sporadic Mt disease in certain subsets of children, through similar genotoxic mechanisms?
Among the prime cellular targets of mercury are mitochondria, and thimerosal-induced cell death has been associated with the depolarization of mitochondrial membrane, according to the International Journal of Molecular Medicine among several others. (Coincidently, the first case of Mt disease was diagnosed in 1959, just 15 years after the first autism case was named, and two decades after thimerosal's introduction as a vaccine preservative.)
Regardless of its cause, shouldn't HHS sponsor research into Mt disease and the biological mechanisms by which vaccines could aggravate the disorder? We still do not know what it was, exactly, about this girl's vaccines that aggravated her condition. Was it the thimerosal? The three live viruses? The two attenuated viruses? Other ingredients like aluminum? A combination of the above?
And of course, if vaccine injuries can aggravate Mt disease to the point of manifesting as autism features, then what other underlying disorders or conditions (genetic, autoimmune, allergic, etc.) might also be aggravated to the same extent?

7) What are the implications for medicine and public health?
Should the government develop and approve new treatments for "aggravated mitochondrial disease with ASD features?" Interestingly, many of the treatments currently deployed in Mt disease (i.e., coenzyme Q10, vitamin B-12, lipoic acid, biotin, dietary changes, etc.) are part of the alternative treatment regimen that many parents use on their children with ASD.
And, if a significant minority of autism cases can be linked to Mt disease and vaccines, shouldn't these products one day carry an FDA Black Box warning label, and shouldn't children with Mt disorders be exempt from mandatory immunization?

8) What are the implications for the vaccine-autism debate?
It's too early to tell. But this concession could conceivably make it more difficult for some officials to continue insisting there is "absolutely no link" between vaccines and autism.
It also puts the Federal Government's Vaccine Court defense strategy somewhat into jeopardy. DOJ lawyers and witnesses have argued that autism is genetic, with no evidence to support an environmental component. And, they insist, it's simply impossible to construct a chain of events linking immunizations to the disorder.
Government officials may need to rethink their legal strategy, as well as their public relations campaigns, given their own slightly contradictory concession in this case.

9) What is the bottom line here?
The public, (including world leaders) will demand to know what is going on inside the US Federal health establishment. Yes, as of now, n=1, a solitary vaccine-autism concession. But what if n=10% or 20%? Who will pay to clean up that mess?
The significance of this concession will unfortunately be fought over in the usual, vitriolic way -- and I fully expect to be slammed for even raising these questions. Despite that, the language of this concession cannot be changed, or swept away.
Its key words are "aggravated" and "manifested." Without the aggravation of the vaccines, it is uncertain that the manifestation would have occurred at all.
When a kid with peanut allergy eats a peanut and dies, we don't say "his underlying metabolic condition was significantly aggravated to the extent of manifesting as an anaphylactic shock with features of death."
No, we say the peanut killed the poor boy. Remove the peanut from the equation, and he would still be with us today.
Many people look forward to hearing more from HHS officials about why they are settling this claim. But whatever their explanation, they cannot change the fundamental facts of this extraordinary case:
The United State government is compensating at least one child for vaccine injuries that resulted in a diagnosis of autism.
And that is big news, no matter how you want to say it.
NOTE: Full text of the government's statement is posted here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/every-american-should-rea_b_88558.html.
David Kirby is the author of "Evidence of Harm - Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic, A Medical Controversy" (St. Martins Press 2005).

Government Concludes Vaccines Caused Autism
http://www.earthtim es.org/articles/ show/government- concludes- vaccines- caused-autism, 296463.shtml

NIXA, Mo., Feb. 28 /PRNewswire- USNewswire/ -- It was announced that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program ruled in favor of a child who regressed into autism as a result of vaccinations, several of which contained the mercury-based preservative thimerosal.

Case documents state that the vaccines administered to the claimant significantly aggravated an underlying condition that ultimately led to regressive encephalopathy and symptoms of autism.

According to official court documents, the child was developing normally until given the vaccines, and shortly after the shots, regressed into full autism. The child was diagnosed by nationally recognized autism medical specialists.

For more than a decade, thousands of parents have come forward with reports of sharp regression in their children following immunizations. The cases of autism have dramatically spiked in the past 15 years to as many as 1 in 150 children, making it the leading childhood developmental disorder today.

The National Autism Association (NAA) sees the ruling as confirmation of what so many parents have been saying for years.. "This case echoes the stories of thousands of children across the country.. With almost 5,000 similar cases pending in vaccine court, we are confident that this is just the first of many that will confirm what we have believed for so long, vaccines can and do cause children to regress into autism," says Wendy Fournier, parent and president of NAA. "We call on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to acknowledge that the current vaccine schedule is not safe for every child and as with the administration of any medicine, individual risks and susceptibilities must be considered for each patient."

While thimerosal has been phased out of many pediatric vaccines, it is still used in flu shots recommended for pregnant women and children. At a meeting of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices held yesterday at the CDC, the committee voted to recommend annual flu shots for all children up to the age of 18, and to date has refused to state a preference for mercury-free vaccines.

To learn more about autism, please visit http://www.national autism.org/ . Contacts: Wendy Fournier (Portsmouth, RI) 401-835-5828 Rita Shreffler (Nixa, MO) 401-632-6452

National Autism Association

Good news for Indians
From: Americai Narayanan
Can you imagine this is really happening in INDIA?

Government of India has an online Grievance forum at

http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/

The government wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc etc.

I know many people will say that these things don't work in India, but this actually works as one of our colleague in CSC found. The guy I'm talking about lives in Faridabad. Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this guy. But it was only this guy! Who used the above listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of faridabad was served a show cause notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week.

Government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it's clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all.

So use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about this facility. You can go to website. This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the ' System' in India.

Invite your friends to contribute for many such happenings.

SPREAD THIS MESSAGE IF U WANT OUR INDIA TO CHANGE

Every July in Orissa, outside a sleepy little town called Paradeep, everyone gets ready for the annual chariot (ratha) festival of Lord Jagannath. This town's ratha traditions are entirely different from those followed by the more famous ratha at Puri, where only Hindus are allowed to participate and pull the chariot.

About one third of Paradeep's citizens are Muslims, yet temple festivals are never a time for people to worry. In Paradeep, Muslims and Hindus have celebrated these festivals together for as long as anyone there can remember. Somehow every year each community seems to know what its duties are. The temple's chariot had been built with timber donated by both Hindus and Muslims, and carved by both Hindu and Muslim carpenters. For the ratha yatra, Muslims clear the road and people of both communities pull the chariot's sacred ropes.

Like the temple in Paradeep, the chariot is ancient and damages occur often. Ordinarily the town people immediately set about repairing the cart.

One year the problem was a little more involved. One of the intricately carved front panels, developed a crack right down the middle. This called for more than ordinary carpentry skills. It required a talented artist to carve a replica of the detailed forest scene on the cracked panel.

The temple priests thought about their options. Since the general feeling in Paradeep is that Lord Krishna's chariot belongs to everyone, the carpenters of the village were summoned.

Since the annual festival was just a few months away, the temple authorities felt it was best to just seal the crack with some paste and varnish it to hide the crack. Looking for a master carver could be done after the festival. But the town's carpenters weren't happy with this idea. Lord Krishna couldn't ride in a chariot with the front panel cracked, even if the crack was to be camouflaged!

The carpenters spent a couple of nights discussing the problem. They were honest about their talents and knew that there wasn't a carpenter amongst them, Muslim or Hindu, who could carve that intricate forest scene. They considered searching for an artisan from another town to carve the panel for them. But somehow, nobody wanted an 'outsider' to work on their town's precious chariot. How nice it would be if someone from their own area could fix the problem.

Finally they decided to choose the best carpenter from each community to jointly carve the new panel. This would be a trial. If the work didn't look satisfactory enough for this year's ratha festival, they'd follow the priest's idea of temporarily sealing the crack. Then next year they would replace the panel.

For the moment everyone in town seemed happy. This had been a topic that was worriedly discussed in all homes, tea-shops and bazaars of Paradeep. Everyone was anxious about the situation except for the group of teenage boys who served tea near the temple. These sons of traders and sweet sellers knew a secret: they knew the extraordinary talent of Apu, a poor Christian boy who sometimes served tea with them for a daily wage.

Apu's family was 'new' in Paradeep. They'd migrated from interior Orissa about 5-6 years ago, looking for work and fleeing villages where locals sometimes taunted them for converting to Christianity. As the family kept moving, Apu gave up his aspirations to become a carpenter. He sold away his precious tools, along with other household goods, when money was needed.

When Apu's father had died, his family was forced to sell their small hut with a patch of land beside it to make ends meet, and Apu had taken up whatever job came his way, including selling tea during the busy festival nights. Very few knew that Apu had the most gifted pair of hands in the village. He could repair a leaking pipe, string a garland of flowers or carve a piece of wood like a magician.

Knowing this, his teenage friends begged him to show the few carved pieces he'd shyly revealed them to the temple priest. Apu refused. He said that the Muslim and Hindu carpenters that had already been selected were good craftsmen. For the first time in years, Apu's family had felt safe. In Paradeep different religious communities seemed to coexist peacefully. He didn't want to upset anyone by upstaging them and inviting their anger upon his family.

One busy night when Apu was busy running errands around the temple, some of his teenage friends snuck into his family's home, stole all of his precious samples and ran off to show them to the priest. The old priest was delighted and, in turn, summoned the town's best two carpenters to ask for their opinion. Both swore that the hand that had carved these beautiful samples had to carve a new panel for the ratha cart. Somehow, it didn't matter to either the priest or the carpenters, that Apu was a Christian.

This is why one panel on the chariot looks so much better than the others. The town folk proudly point it out to visitors, as 'Apu's panel'. Since it's Paradeep tradition that all work done for the temple is done for free, Apu didn't get paid for his beautiful carvings; but Mohanty Babu offered him a job in his big carpentry shop. That's how Apu could afford to send his younger brother back to school.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022501182_pf.html

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, February 26, 2008: America has always been a competitive religious marketplace, but a major survey released yesterday shows a country increasingly exploring different faith identities and ways of worship. More than 40 percent of respondents told pollsters that they had changed their religious affiliation since childhood. Experts say the growth of religious minorities, American mobility and intermarriage are key factors in the churn documented in the Religious Landscape Survey, one of the largest such polls ever done, with 35,000 adults interviewed.

Conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the survey confirms on a grand scale trends that demographers have noted for years: the slipping percentage of Protestants, now down to 51, and the rise of people who call themselves unaffiliated, now at 16 percent, up from similar surveys. Catholics are the religious group with the greatest loss of adherents, with former Catholics making up about 10 percent of the U.S. population. Hindus, on the other hand, are best at retaining their faith; eight in ten Hindus who were born into the faith remain connected to it.

More than anything else in the poll, Pew highlighted the fluidity of identity, noting that every group is constantly gaining and losing members. Twenty-eight percent of Americans have left the group they were raised in, switching, for example, from Protestantism to Judaism or from the Orthodox faith to Catholicism. America has always been very religiously vibrant, said Pew political scientist John Green, but today there are more options.

Read more on Chanting Hare Krishna HERE:

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080041386&ch=2/15/2008%209:48:00%20PM/

LONDON, UK, February 15, 2008: A Hindu organization in the UK on Friday blamed the British for the caste system in India, saying the "current adulteration" of the varnashram system is a result of "generations of British colonial bureaucracy."

"It was the British who single-handedly formulated the caste schedules that remain in place today," Raj Pandit Sharma, a member of the Hindu Council UK's (HCUK) Executive, said. "The evils manifest in the current form of the caste system could not be ascribed to the Hindu faith." The report included quotations from Hindu scripture in support of the concept of egalitarianism and cites many sacred texts - respected by people of all castes - that were written by "Dalits," or "outcastes."

The result of several months research by Sharma, a report lifts the lid on rarely-heard Hindu perspectives on a subject assumed by most non-Hindus to be always a gross form of unjust discrimination, used to justify attempts by Christians to convert Hindus. The report acknowledged and condemned continued abuse in India, despite an official ban on caste discrimination.

The detailed report challenges assumptions about caste and details that, concluding that contrary to their assertions and popular belief, caste, as described in the Hindu scriptures, is not determined by birth.

Read more on Reincarnation HERE:

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2008/2/26.shtml#3

KAPAA, HAWAII, USA, February 26, 2008: From February 17th to 21st, Hindu swamis and religious leaders from India visited Israel, at the invitation of the Israeli foreign ministry, the American Jewish Association, the World Council of Religious Leaders and the Rabbinate of Israel. They met with the Chief Rabbis of Israel, the President of Israel, members of the foreign ministry, the Mayor of Haifa and many other respected dignitaries.

It was a beautiful meeting of two ancient, non-proselytizing, non-converting religions who shared their beliefs, their traditions and their ideals with each other, finding much common ground between the two ancient traditions.

The program began in Jerusalem on the evening of the 17th February. On the 18th, they joined a discussion between Hindu leaders and Jewish leaders at the Mt. Zion Hotel in Jerusalem. Important issues such as icon worship, calendars, the meaning of the swastika and many others were discussed with great understanding and mutual respect. In the evening, the group was hosted by the Israeli Parliament where they met the Israeli Prime Minister and members of the foreign ministry, and they were greeted by a special welcome by the Israeli Parliament in session.

On the 19th February, they had a meeting with His Excellency, the President of Israel. In that evening they were hosted for a special dinner by the American Jewish Committee, headed by Rabbi David Rosen. On the 20th February, they traveled to Haifa where they met with local communities of other religions in Israel, including the Druze and the Bahai'i as well as local Christian and Muslim leaders. The final dinner was hosted by the President of Haifa University. The first Hindu-Jewish summit had taken place in Delhi in the previous year, on February 2007.

The group was formed by were Swami Avdheshanand Giriji (Acharya Mahamandaleshwar, Juna Akhara), Swami Paramatmanandji (Secretary, Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha), Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji (President and Spiritual Head, Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh), Swami Madhav Priya Dasji (Swaminarayan sampradhaya), along with other revered leaders and an eminent team of Hindu scholars. Swami Dayananda Saraswati was scheduled to play a major role in the event; however, unfortunately he was unable to attend at the last minute.

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

Date: Fri Jan 11, 2008 12:29 pm ((PST))

Metals described in the Vimana Shastra

By Suresh Soni

If the country's policy makers contemplate on the manufacture of the various metals described in the book and how to accumulate the necessary thing, then it will be good for the future development of the country.

The second question that arises is whether there is any part of aeronautics, which could be proved initially through experimentation. If there is some part, then has any experiment been carried out in that direction? Was it successful?

Fortunately, the above questions can be answered in the affirmative. Dr. Sriram Prabhu of Hyderabad saw the chapter on the machine in Vaimanic Shastra and tried to recognise some of the 31 machines described in it and then experimented to find out if it was possible to make the alloys as described in its chapter on metals.

For experimental purposes, Dr. Prabhu and his colleagues began a project with the help from the B.M. Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad. Results obtained so far are promising.

They have been successful in making some metals on the basis of the descriptions in ancient scripture.

   1.      The first metal is tamogarbh iron. The Viman Shastra says that it is used to make aircrafts invisible. On exposing it to light, it absorbs 75-80 per cent of the light thrown on it. This metal is black in colour; hard like lead and it does not dissolve even in sulfuric acid.

   2.      The second is called the panch lauh or alloys of five items. It is golden in colour, but it is hard and heavy from inside. It is based on copper. Its speciality is that it has 7.95 per cent of lead, whereas the American Society of Metals in the US, has agreed that a maximum of 0.35 to three per cent of lead is possible in a copper based alloy. Hence, alloy with 7.95 per cent lead is unique in itself.

   3.      The third is and arar. This is a copper-based alloy which is yellow in colour, hard yet light. It has a property of resistance to moisture.

While informing the press on July 18, 1991 of the success in making these metals, Dr. B.B. Siddharth, Director, Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad, said that in making these metals, various medicinal leaves, gum, barks of trees, etc. are also used. That is why while the production cost is less, some special qualities are developed in the metals. He further said that if the country's policy makers contemplate on the manufacture of the various metals described in the book and how to accumulate the necessary thing, then it will be good for the future development of the country.

The news of the above press conference was released by the news agency Varta. It was published on July 19, in Nai Duniya, MP Chronicle and many other newspapers across the country.

In a similar fashion, Dr. Maheshwar Sheron of the Chemistry Department of IIT, Mumbai also tried to make some things described in the book. These were chumbakmani, which is used in the guhagarbha yantra and has the ability to capture reflection. Paragrandhik drav—this is a type of acid, which is used in the guhagarbha, and is used with a chumbakmani.

Similarly, there is a description of the various kinds of metals and mirrors in Sage Bharadwaj's Ansha-bodhini. Dr. N.G. Dongre, Reader in the Harishchandra PG College, Varanasi, has undertaken a project with the cooperation of the Indian National Science Academy. The project was named `The Study of Various Materials Described in Anshabodhini of Maharshi Bharadwaj'.

Under the project, he tried to make a mirror as described by Sage Bharadwaj, at the National Metallurgical Lab, Jamshedpur with the Director, P.Ramachandra Rao, who is at present the Vice-Chancellor of the Benaras Hindu University. He was successful in manufacturing a special kind of glass called prakash stambhan bhid lauh. The speciality of the this glass is that it absorbs visible light and allows only infra-red rays to pass through it.

It has been made of kachar louh-silica bhuch-akra surmitr-adikshar—lime ayaskakant—lodestone ruruk—deerbone ash, as per the process laid down in Anshabodhini. The speciality of prakash stambhan bhid lauh is that it is completely non-hygroscopic. Infra-red hygroscopic mirrors lose their polish and luster in water vapour or humidity and become useless. These days CaF2 is extremely hygroscopic. Therefore, one has to be extra cautious while using these machines, although a study of the prakash stambhan bhid lauh has proved that it works best in the infra-red range of two to five microns (µ), where 1µ =10-4 cm, and that it can be used without worrying about the moisture in the atmosphere.

Hence, we can say that the truth behind some of the experiments carried out in one of the chapters of Sage Bharadwaj's book make us believe that the others must also be true and that aeronautical science was not just an imagination in ancient times, but was a fact.
The other chapters are also waiting for courageous researchers to prove them true.

(This book is available with Ocean Books (P) Ltd, 4/19 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110 002)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=191&page=27

http://www.ndtv.com/

LONDON, UK, February 15, 2008: A Hindu organization in the UK on Friday blamed the British for the caste system in India, saying the "current adulteration" of the varnashram system is a result of "generations of British colonial bureaucracy."

"It was the British who single-handedly formulated the caste schedules that remain in place today," Raj Pandit Sharma, a member of the Hindu Council UK's (HCUK) Executive, said. "The evils manifest in the current form of the caste system could not be ascribed to the Hindu faith." The report included quotations from Hindu scripture in support of the concept of egalitarianism and cites many sacred texts - respected by people of all castes - that were written by "Dalits," or "outcastes."

The result of several months research by Sharma, a report lifts the lid on rarely-heard Hindu perspectives on a subject assumed by most non-Hindus to be always a gross form of unjust discrimination, used to justify attempts by Christians to convert Hindus. The report acknowledged and condemned continued abuse in India, despite an official ban on caste discrimination.

The detailed report challenges assumptions about caste and details that, concluding that contrary to their assertions and popular belief, caste, as described in the Hindu scriptures, is not determined by birth.

You can read the complete article here. http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080041386&ch=2/15/2008%209:48:00%20PM/

UK Hindus blame British for caste system

Press Trust of India
Friday, February 15, 2008 (London)

A Hindu organisation in the UK on Friday blamed the British for the caste system in India, saying the ''current adulteration'' of the varnashram system is a result of ''generations of British colonial bureaucracy''.

''It was the British who single-handedly formulated the caste schedules that remain in place today,'' Raj Pandit Sharma, a member of the Hindu Council UK's (HCUK) Executive, said in a report on 'Caste Discrimination'.

The HCUK said it came out with the report to prevent the spread of ''misinformation about Hinduism'' by ''anti-caste propagandists''.

Sharma said the evils manifest in the current form of the caste system could not be ascribed to the Hindu faith.

''The current adulteration of the Hindu varnashram system is a direct result of generations of British colonial bureaucracy,'' he claimed.

The report included quotations from Hindu scripture in support of the concept of egalitarianism and cites many sacred texts - respected by people of all castes - that were written by ''Dalits,'' or ''outcastes'', in an attempt to prove that in Hinduism, caste was never intended to be hereditary.

The report also highlighted the ''hypocrisy'' of those who would criticise caste in India while ignoring Britain's own social divisions. ''There are now record levels of homeless people in the UK, who are analogous with the outcastes of Indian society,'' Sharma said.

He also questioned comparing caste system with apartheid.

''This comparison is as ridiculous as it is untrue, especially given the fact these barbaric systems were born under the shadow of slavery or indentured labour, based on the colour of one's skin, and actually conceived and perpetrated by Europeans, not Hindus.''

''It is no joke to have to ward off concerted misinformation campaigns from UK parliamentarians who really ought to know better,'' Anil Bhanot, HCUK General Secretary, said in his Foreword to the document.

He said he has gone through the difficult process in the hope that it would alert the wider British public to the prejudicial tactics carried out by ''anti-caste propagandists''.

Banot said ''Today, we are putting the record straight. We are also naming and shaming those who spread misinformation about Hinduism and its relationship to caste in an ill-disguised attempt to vilify the Hindu people and cause division within our community.''

The result of several months research by Sharma, the report lifts the lid on rarely-heard Hindu perspectives on a subject assumed by most non-Hindus to be always a gross form of unjust discrimination, an alleged feature of Hinduism so maligned it justifies attempts by Christians to convert Hindus in the UK, in India and elsewhere, the report said.

The report acknowledged and condemned the fact that abuse of varnashram continues in India, despite an official ban on caste discrimination and the introduction of positive discrimination policies to emancipate lower castes, in particular Dalits, or 'untouchables'.

But it questions the existence of caste discrimination in the UK, saying no one should be ''fooled'' by groups making allegations of such discrimination who are seeking government legislation and funds to tackle this ''supposed problem''.

The detailed report challenges assumptions about caste and the claims made by organisations such as CasteWatch UK and the Dalit Solidarity Network UK, concluding that contrary to their assertions and popular belief, caste, as described in the Hindu scriptures, is not determined by birth.

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

Date: Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:26 am ((PST))

'Booming populations and a switch to a meat-rich diet in the developing world also mean that about 110m tons of the world€ ¦’²s annual wheat crop is being diverted to feed livestock.'

 THE world is only ten weeks away from running out of wheat supplies after stocks fell to their lowest levels for 50 years.

 The crisis has pushed prices to an all-time high and could lead to further hikes in the price of bread, beer, biscuits and other basic foods.
 It could also exacerbate serious food shortages in developing countries especially in Africa.

 The crisis comes after two successive years of disastrous wheat harvests, which saw production fall from 624m to 600m tonnes, according to the United Nations€ ¦’² Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

 Experts blame climate change as heatwaves caused a slump in harvests last year in eastern Europe, Canada, Morocco and Australia, all big wheat producers.

 Booming populations and a switch to a meat-rich diet in the developing world also mean that about 110m tons of the world€ ¦’²s annual wheat crop is being diverted to feed livestock.

 Short term pressures have compounded the problem. Speculative buying by investors gambling on further price rises has further pushed up prices.

 Though shortages are often blamed on the use of land for biofuel crops, the main biofuel cereal crop is maize, not wheat. Farmers have brought millions of acres of fallow land into production and the FAO predicts that the shortages could be eliminated within 12 months.

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

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

A man once told his friend that sugar-cane tastes nice and sweet when you chew it up.  The friend did not know what sugar-cane was, and so he asked the man.  He was told that it was "just like a bamboo log."  The foolish friend then began to chew different kinds of bamboo sticks, but he could never taste the sweetness.

MORAL:  Similarly, materialists are trying to find happiness and pleasure by enjoying the material body, but they find no real happiness or pleasure.

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

The phaomnneil pweor of the hmuan mnid: Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig!
Mybae the I can sotp slpel ckchenig?

http://www.gaura-gambhira.com/

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

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