Excerpt from INTERVIEW GIVEN BY RAJIV MALHOTRA

Can you explain your thoughts related to difference anxiety?

a) I coined the term “difference anxiety” to refer to one’s anxiety that the other is different in some way—be it gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age or religion. The alternative is difference without anxiety, and better still is celebration of difference.

b) To appreciate this very Hindu principle, one must start by observing that the cosmos is built on the principle of difference—in plants, animals, geographies, and even each moment in time is unique. So differences in culture, human cognition and worldviews are entirely natural.

c) It is interesting that westerners are so protective of the diversity of plants and animals, but the same emphasis is not placed on protecting civilizational and faith diversity. The reason is that Westerners are driven by the urge to control externally – control over other humans, nature, etc. Homogeneity based on fixed canonized norms helps one control; hence difference and especially flux are a cause for anxiety. Therefore, Western religions have traditionally pushed for monocultures.

d) Western Monotheism is more appropriately described as “my-theism,” meaning that my idea of theism is the only valid one.

e) In Hinduism, sva-dharma is the path for a given individual, the “sva” prefix literally meaning “my.” It’s like “My Documents” or”My Favorites” on your computer. God made us unique individuals, each with a purpose based on past conditioning, including experiences in past births, and each of us is equipped to discover his or her sva-dharma.

f) To prevent repetition of some of the worst organized, large scale atrocities in world history that were committed for the sake of spreading a uniform theology, it is time we respected difference. Please see:
http://www.patheos.com/Books/Book-Club/Rajiv-Malhotra-Being-Different/Importance-of-Being-Different-QA-Rajiv-Malhotra-02-20-2012

http://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/rajiv-malhotra-the-interview-the-christian-post-didnt-publish-the-chakra/

Rooftop solar power is making coal obsolete in Australia

Rooftop solar power is making coal obsolete in Australia

By Tero Kuittinen July 9, 2014 4:38 PM

Rooftop solar panels are becoming such a powerful factor in the energy market that they now can push the price of electricity to negative territory in the sunniest regions of the world. This is possible because powering down fossil fuel energy generators during peak solar power periods would be more expensive than paying customers to use the electricity.

The negative energy price barrier was breached in Queensland, Australia, where low demand and high rooftop solar power generation pushed the wholesale electricity price to AUD -$100 per megawatt-hour on Wednesday afternoon, July 2. This is mid-winter in Australia, so daily temperatures are mild. Household appliance usage dips in the early afternoon and peaks in mornings and afternoons, so an early afternoon during a sunny Australian winter is the period when solar power is at its zenith.

Queensland is a special case due to local overbuilding of coal power plants and bad policy decisions. This is an example of how the rapid growth of solar energy is catching governments off guard. More than a million Australians have already installed rooftop panels, causing demand for electricity supplied by traditional utilities to plunge. According to analysis from UBS, demand for electricity in Australia has dropped by 13% over the past four years. 75% of Australia’s residential buildings and up to 90% of commercial buildings may be equipped by rooftop solar panels within 1o years.

Apple recently announced plans to expand its massive North Carolina solar power farm substantially. China’s solar power panel production is expected to double by 2017 as the country focuses on creating massive economies of scale to help drive down panel pricing. Various American tech companies are trying to compete against China’s raw government subsidy policies by introducing advances in materials, such as thin-film photovoltaic technology.

This dramatic rivalry between American and Chinese solar panel industries is likely to yield substantial reduction in solar power costs over the next five years. By the end of the decade, the idea of homes and companies getting close to self-sustaining regarding energy production and consumption may become the norm in the sunnier American states.

HEART ATTACK WILL COME IF YOU KNOW THE PRICES OF MEDICAL DEVICES FOR HEART ATTACK

Hospitals make a killing on medical devices like stents, implants

Rema NagarajanRema Nagarajan,TNN | Jul 13, 2014, 12.58 AM IST


In several hospitals, margins on devices like stents and pacemakers could add up to as much as 30% of their profits.

The cost of medical devices like stents and pacemakers is enough to give anyone a heart attack. TOI found that patients were being forced to pay double or even triple the price for medical devices at hospitals. As most of these are not available in the open market, patients can't check prices and are held hostage by hospitals, which force them to buy at the price they quote.

Sources in the healthcare sector told TOI that in several hospitals, the margins on devices — ranging from stents, implants and pacemakers to artificial joints, titanium plates for fractures, and valves — could add up to as much as 30% of their profits. Hundreds of such devices are used in a hospital every day. Of course, it is the patient who pays for these handsome margins.

Take what happened to a lawyer whose father was admitted to a 'charitable' hospital in Kochi. The doctors advised that the patient needed three drug eluting stents at Rs 95,000 per stent. Since he knew the pharma and medical devices market reasonably well, the lawyer went directly to the hospital's supplier, who offered the same stents for about Rs 40,000 each, a rate much higher than would have been charged to a bulk buyer like a hospital. But the hospital refused to use a stent bought by him. He had no option but to take the stent provided by the hospital as his father could not be shifted. After much haggling, the hospital offered to give three stents for the price of two, charging him Rs 87,000 for each. The final price of each stent, including the 'free' one, was effectively Rs 58,000.

"The actual cost at which the hospital gets it is probably in the range of Rs 30,000 or even less. That's a mark-up of almost 300% on just one stent. And this was a top-of-the-line branded stent from one of the biggest multinationals. There were many patients there who were being charged the full amount. Even the supplier gets a cut from the company. Imagine what the actual price might be if directly sourced from the company, probably about Rs 20,000," said the lawyer.

Adding to the margin on devices is the profit hospitals make billing patients for medicines using the same principle of buying cheap in bulk and selling at a much higher price to the patient. In fact, devices, medicines and diagnostics could account for as much as 70% of a hospital's profit. Some very reputed doctors confirmed to TOI that this was the case, but asked not to be named.

Experts feel that making it mandatory to declare the maximum retail price on each device could help cap the price and make companies compete to offer lower prices. However, doctors point out that having an MRP has not prevented profiteering in medicines, with the MRP being fixed high enough to accommodate commissions since there is no limit on what the MRP can be. Moreover, while MRP is mandatory on everything manufactured in India, many devices are imported and escape this stipulation.

Another suggestion is that devices be prescribed by doctors but left to patients to buy from pharmacies where several brands could be stocked to allow patients to decide. "After all the sterility required of a medical device like an implant is of the same level as a syringe or bandage. If those can be bought in pharmacies, why not devices? This system of hospitals meant to sell services becoming peddlers of wares compromises the right of a patient as the consumer to choose," argued one expert in favour of open purchase. But not all patients would relish the extra hassle of having to purchase each item themselves. They might also feel they do not know enough to make an informed choice.

A surgeon in a corporate hospital narrated how a company offered him a stapling gun used in surgeries at Rs 20,000, which he found to be as good as the one he was using regularly but which cost about Rs 22,000. "Since it saved the patient Rs 2,000, I decided to use the cheaper one. But I got a call from the purchasing section of the hospital to go back to using the earlier one since the company gave it to the hospital for Rs 14,000, which meant a mark-up of Rs 8,000, while the other company offered its gun to the hospital for Rs 16,000, which meant only Rs 4,000 for the hospital," said the surgeon. He went back to the one that cost Rs 22,000 since both were equally good. In most hospitals, if two devices are more or less equal, the choice of which one is used depends on which fetches the hospital a bigger cut.

"If the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) can regulate and prescribe ceiling rates for call charges or roaming charges, why is there no government regulation on what hospitals can charge for medical procedures and devices? Just as there is a National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) for medicines, there ought to be an authority that regulates the price of devices. Why is the government allowing hospitals to loot patients like this?" asked the lawyer whose father had three stents implanted.

Behind the ballooning bills

· Whether it's drugs or devices, hospitals buy cheap in bulk and sell at a much higher price to patient

· If two devices are more or less equal, hospitals choose the one that gets them a bigger cut

· Experts suggest making MRP mandatory on devices or a price regulatory authority

· Another option is to let patients buy from market

அரிசோனாவில் அருள்மிகு ஆனைமுகன் ஆலயம் July 12, 2014

அரிசோனாவில் அருள்மிகு ஆனைமுகன் ஆலயம்

July 12, 2014

- ஒரு அரிசோனன் 

 அச்சிட

கதிரவன் மேற்கே சாய ஆரம்பிக்கிறான். உலர்ந்த பாலைவனக் காற்று மெதுவாக வீசிக்கொண்டிருக்கிறது. வடக்கே ஸ்ட்ராபெரி தோட்டம். கிழக்கே நூற்றுக்கணக்கான ஏக்கர்களில் மக்காச் சோளக் கதிர்கள் காற்றில் தலைகளை ஆட்டிக்கொண்டு இருக்கின்றன. வடமேற்கே நான்கைந்து குன்றுகள் காணப்படுகின்றன. அவற்றில் இடது கோடியில் உள்ள குன்றுக்கு மட்டும் மூன்று சிகரங்கள் இருக்கின்றன. மாலை நிழல் மெல்ல அக்குன்றினில் படிய ஆரம்பிக்கறது. சிறிது நேரத்தில் நிழல் படிந்த அக்குன்று நம்மை வியைப்பிலும், பக்திப் பரவசத்திலும் ஆழ்த்திவிடுகிறது. காரணம்…

… நடுச் சிகரத்திலிருந்து மேலிருந்து கீழாக வளைந்து காணப்படும் நிழல் வலம்புரியான துதிக்கை போன்று தோன்றுகிறது. வலது, மற்றும் இடது சிகரங்கள் காதுகளாகப் பரிணமிக்கின்றன. குன்றின் நடுவில், இடதுபுலத்தில் குத்தவைத்த கால் போன்று ஒரு நிழல் தோன்றுகிறது. உற்றுப் பார்த்தால், அந்தக் குன்றே ஆனைமுகக் கடவுள் வடிவில் நம்மைப் பார்த்து ஆசி நல்குவது போலத் தென்படுகிறது.
இத்தகைய அற்புதத் தோற்றம் தென்படுவது அமெரிக்காவிலிருக்கும், அரிசோனா மாநிலத்தில், பீனிக்ஸ் மாநகரத்திலிருந்து நாற்பது மைல் தொலைவில் உள்ள மகாகணபதி ஆலய வாசலில் நின்றுகொண்டு பார்க்கும் பொழுதுதான். ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் மாலை 3:45 மணியிலிருந்து, 5 மணிவரை இந்த அற்புதத் தோற்றம் அந்த முச்சிகரங்கள் உள்ள குன்றில் தென்படுகிறது. ஆனைமுகனே தனது கோவிலை தினமும் பார்த்து, பக்தர்களுக்கு அருள் பாலிக்கிறான் என்னும் அளவுக்குச் சிறப்பான இடத்தில் அமைந்துள்ளது மகாகணபதி டெம்பிள் ஆப் அரிசோனா (Maha Ganapati Temple of Arizona).
பீனிக்ஸ் பெருநகரில் கோவிலே இல்லையே என்ற ஆதங்கத்தால், கவ்வையில் (Kauii) இருக்கும் சைவ ஆதீன ஸ்தாபகர், சமாதி அடைந்த குருதேவர் சுப்பிரமுனிய சுவாமி அவர்கள், மாமல்லபுரத்தில் வடிக்கப்பட்ட, நான்கு அடிகள் உயரமுள்ள, ஆனைமுகனின் அற்புதத் திரு உருவத்தை பொது ஆண்டு 2௦௦௦ல், பீனிக்ஸ் பெருநகரின் இந்து சமய மக்களுக்கு அன்பளிப்பாக அளித்து, அவர்கள் முழுமுதற் கடவுளான ஆனைமுகனை வணங்கிட, இந்து மக்களின் சமய உணர்ச்சி பொங்கிப் பெருகிட, வழிசெய்தார்,.
அவரது ஆசியுடன், ஒரு வீட்டில் வைத்து வழிபடப்பட்ட விநாயகருக்குக் கோவில் எழுப்புவதற்காக, பக்தர் குடும்பம் ஒன்று பதினைத்து ஏக்கர் நிலத்தைக் கொடையாக வழங்கியது. ஆலயம் அமைக்கும் பணியில் அநுபவமே இல்லாத அன்பர்கள் பலர் ஆனைமுகத்தோனுக்கு ஆலயம் எழுப்ப உறுதிபூண்டு, முயற்சி எடுக்கத் துவங்கினார்கள்..
முதலில் 2100 சதுர அடி அளவுள்ள தாற்காலிகக் கட்டிடத்தில் ஆனைமுகனை பிரதிஷ்டை செய்தனர். ஒவ்வொரு சனி, மற்றும் ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமைதோறும் வழிபாடு நடத்தப்பட்டது. கோவிலில் பணி புரியவும், மக்களின் வீட்டு பூஜைகள், திருமணம், ஹோமம் போன்ற நிகழ்ச்சிகளை நடத்தவும் ஒரு அர்ச்சகர் நியமிக்கப்பட்டார்.
ஆகம முறையில் ஆனைமுகனுக்குப் பெரிய ஆலயம் எழுப்ப வேண்டும் என்ற அவா மக்கள் இதயத்தில் எழுந்தது. கோவில் நடத்திய 500×500 நன்கொடை, மாதா மாதம் காணிக்கை செலுத்தும் திருப்பணி, “மகிமா” என்னும் கலை நிகழ்ச்சி இவை மூலம் பணம் குவியத் துவங்கியது.
தமிழ்நாட்டின் சிறந்த கோவில் ஸ்தபதிகளில் ஒருவரான திரு முத்தையா ஸ்தபதியின் வடிவைப்பு உதவியுடன் ஆனைமுகனின் ஆலயம் உருப்பெறத் துவங்கியது.
7400 சதுர அடிப்பரப்பில் ஒரு பெரிய கட்டிடம் எழுந்தது. தமிழ்நாட்டிலிருந்து வந்து தங்கி இருந்த நான்கு சிற்பிகள் கர்ப்பக்கிரத்தில் சுதைச் சிற்பங்களை வடிவமைத்தார்கள். 2008ல் ஆனைமுகன் நடுநாயகமாக எழுந்தருள, கோதாவரி ஆற்றுக் கல்லில் உருவாக்கப்பட்ட சிவலிங்கமும், பாலாஜியும், அவருக்கு இரு புறமும், மற்றும் நவக்கிரகங்களும் பிரதிஷ்டை (உயிரூட்டம்) செய்யப்பட்டார்கள்.

விமானங்களும், இராஜ கோபுரமும் கட்ட, உள்ளமைப்பாகக் கூடுகளும் கட்டி முடிக்கப்பட்டன. கவ்வை ஆதீன குருவான சத்குரு போதிநாத வேலன்சுவாமி பிராணப் பிரதிஷ்டைத் திருவிழாவில் கலந்துகொண்டு விழாவைச் சிறப்பித்தார். மதுரை மீனாட்சி அம்மன் கோவிலில் பணி ஆற்றி, அமெரிக்காவில் எண்ணற்ற கோவில்களில் குடமுழுக்கு செய்வித்த திரு தங்கரத்தின பட்டர் சிவாச்சாரியார் தலைமையில், நான்கு புரோகிதர்கள் பிராணப் பிரதிஷ்டை செய்யும் பணியில் ஈடுபட்டார்கள்.

கிட்டத்தட்ட ஆயிரத்து ஐநூற்றுக்கும் மேலான பக்தர்கள் ஆனைமுகனின் புது ஆலயத் திறப்பு விழாவைக் கண்டு களித்தார்கள்.
ஆனைமுகன், சிவன், பார்வதி, முருகன், வள்ளி, தெய்வானை, விஷ்ணு, ஸ்ரீதேவி, பூதேவி இவர்களின் பஞ்சலோக உற்சவத் திரு உருவங்களும் வந்து சேர்ந்தன. திருவிழாக் காலங்களில் அவை நன்கு அலங்ககரிக்கப்பட்டு, கோவிலைச் சுற்றி ஊர்வலமாக எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்டன.
விநாயக சதுர்த்தி, தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு விழா, யுகாதி, மகர சங்கராந்தி/பொங்கல் போன்ற விழாக்களுடன், மகாருத்ரம் போன்ற சிறப்பு நிகழ்சிகளும் பக்தர்களைப் பரவசப் படுத்தின. இரண்டு அர்ச்சகர்கள் கோவிலில் பணி புரியத் துவங்கினர். சனி, ஞாயிறு மட்டுமன்றி, மற்ற நாள்களிலும், மாலை கோவில் திறக்கப்பட்டது. கடவுளர்களுக்கு நிவேதனம் செய்ய, பிரசாதமும் பக்தர்களே தயாரித்துக் கொணர்ந்தார்கள். திருவிழாவின் போது குழுமும் பக்தகோடிகளுக்கு உணவு இலவசமாகவே வழங்கப்பட்டது.

முருகனுக்கும், ஐயப்பனுக்கும் சன்னதிகள் எழுப்படவேண்டும் என்று தமிழ், மற்றும் மலையாள பக்தர்கள் விரும்பினார்கள். அதற்காகக் காணிக்கை குவிந்தது. முருகன் ஐயப்பன் சன்னதிகளோடு, விசாலாட்சி, பத்மாவதி இவர்களுக்கும் சன்னதிகள் எழுப்ப முடிவு எடுக்கப்பட்டது. கோவிலில் தரையில் பளிங்குக்கல் பதிக்கப்பட்டது.

இந்தியாலிருந்து புதுச் சிற்பிகள் வந்தார்கள். அவர்கள் கோவிலுக்கு அருகிலேயே தங்குவதற்காக ஒரு மோபில் வீடு ஒன்று வாங்கி, கோவில் நிலத்திலேயே நிறுவப்பட்டது. சிற்பிகள் சிவன், மற்றும் பாலாஜியின் கர்ப்பக்கிரகங்களை ஆகம முறைப்படி வடிவமைத்து, சுதைச் சிற்பங்களையும் நிறுவினார்கள். ஐயப்பன் சன்னதி கேரளக் கோவில் மாதிரி வடிவமைத்துக் கட்டப்பட்டது. ஒவ்வொரு சன்னதியின் மீதும் கலசங்களும், சுதைச் சிற்பங்களும் எழுப்பப்பட்டன. சிற்பி சண்முகநாதனின் கைத்திறமையைப் பாராட்டாதவர்களே இல்லை எனலாம். அவர் சிற்ப சாஸ்திரத்தை விளக்கும் விதத்தை நாள் முழுதும் கேட்டுக்கொண்டே இருக்கலாம். அவர் வடித்திருக்கும் ஒவ்வொரு தெய்வச் சிலைகளும் பார்ப்போரைக் கவர்ந்து இருக்கும் தெய்வீக அழகுடன் துலங்குகின்றன. பக்தர்களுக்கு உணவு சமைப்பதற்காக மடைப்புளி வசதிகள் ஏற்பாடு செய்யப்பட்டன.
2011ல், முருகன், ஐயப்பன், விசாலாட்சி, பத்மாவதி இவர்களின் சன்னதிகளுக்கு குடமுழுக்கு செய்விக்கப்பட்டது. விநாயகர், சிவன், பாலாஜி இவர்களின் கர்ப்பக்கிரகங்களுக்கு தேக்கு மரத்தில் புடைப்புச் சிற்பங்கள் உள்ள கதவுகளும் பொருத்தப்பட்டன.
இந்தத் தடவையும், தங்கரத்தின பட்டர் சிவாச்சாரியார் தலைமையில் எட்டு புரோஹிதர்கள் குடமுழுக்கு விழாச் சடங்குகளையும், வேள்விகளையும் நன்கு நிறைவேற்றினார்கள். சத்குரு வேலன்சுவாமியும் விழாவில் கலந்துகொண்டு நிகழ்வைச் சிறப்பித்தார். இரண்டாயிரம் பக்தர்கள் பக்திப் பரவசத்துடன் விழா நிகழ்சிகளைக் கண்ணுற்றார்கள்.
விஸ்வநாதரும், விசாலாட்சியும் கோவிலை அலங்கரிக்கும்போது, ஆடலரசர் நடராஜரும், அன்னை சிவகாமியும் அருளாசி பாலிக்கவேண்டும் என்ற விருப்பமும், காக்கும் கடவுளான சத்தியநாராயணரும், மக்களுக்கு அருட்செல்வத்தை வாரி வழங்கவேண்டும் என்ற கோரிக்கையும் எழுந்தன. அத்துடன் பக்த அனுமானும், இராமர், இலக்குவர் சீதையும் கோவிலில் குடிபுகவேண்டும் என்ற பேரவாவும் உண்டாகியது. முதலாவது கட்டமாக, ஆனைமுகன், சிவன், பாலாஜி இவர்களின் விமானப் திருப்பணியை முடித்துக் குடமுழுக்கும், அத்துடன், நடராஜர்-சிவகாமி, மற்றும் சத்யநாராயணர் சந்நிதிகளையும் திறக்கவேண்டும் என்று முடிவெடுக்கப்பட்டது. கடைசி கட்டமாக, இராமர்-சீதை-இலக்குவன், பக்த அனுமான் சந்நதிகளையும், இராஜகொபுரக் குடமுழுக்கையும் நிறைவேற்றுவதாகத் திட்டமும் இடப்பட்டது.
திருப்பணி செய்ய வாய்ப்பிற்காக, செங்கல் ஆதரவாளர்களாக பக்தர்கள் திரண்டார்கள். விமானங்களிலும், சன்னதிகளிலும் கட்டப்படும் செங்கல்களில் தங்கள் பெயர்களை எழுதி, கணிக்கைகளிச் செலுத்தினார்கள். ஆயிரக்கணக்கில் செங்கல்கள் பக்தர்கள் ஆதரவில் குவிந்தன. சன்னதிகளும், விமானங்களும் எழுந்தன.
பீனிக்சின் கடும் வெய்யிலையும், கடும் குளிரையும், உஷ்ணக் காற்றையும் பொருட்படுத்தாது சிற்பிகள் உழைத்தனர். அவர்களுக்குப் பொழுது போக்கிற்காக, பக்தர்கள் அவர்களை விடுப்பு நாள்களில் சுற்றுலாவுக்குக் கூட்டிச் சென்றார்கள். தங்கள் நற்குணத்தால் சிற்பிகள் அரிசோனா ஆலயக் குடும்பத்தில் ஒருவராகவே ஆனார்கள்.
காஞ்சி சங்கர மடம், தில்லைக் கோவில், சாயி மையத்திலிருந்து ஆசிச் செய்திகள் குவிந்தன. இலட்ச கணபதி காயத்திரி, தன்வந்தரி ஹோமம் போன்ற சிறப்பு நிகழ்சிகள் மக்கள் நலத்திற்காக நடத்தப்பட்டன. சிவானந்தலஹரி என்ற இடைவெளியே இல்லாத, சிவத் தலங்களைச் சிறப்பிக்கும் நாட்டியக் கலை நிகழ்ச்சி ஒன்று, பீனிக்ஸ் பெருநகரில் உள்ள பரதநாட்டியப் பள்ளி மாணவர்களைக் கொண்டு, பரத நாட்டிய ஆசிரியைகளால் சிறப்பாக நடத்தப்பட்டு, திருப்பணிக்கு நிதி திரட்டியது.

2014 மே மாதம் பக்தர்களின் கனவு நிறைவேறியது. மூன்று விமானங்களுக்குக் குடமுழுக்கும், நடராஜர்-சிவகாமி சன்னதி, மற்றும் சத்தியநாராயணர் சன்னதி பிராணப் பிரதிஷ்டை, மற்றும் கும்பாபிஷேகமும் சிறப்பாக நடந்தேறின.
இரண்டாயிரத்திற்கும் மேற்பட்ட பக்தகோடிகள், குடமுழுக்கு விழாவில் கலந்துகொண்டு, கடவுளர்களின் அருள்வெள்ளத்தில், மூழ்கிப் பரவசம் கொண்டனர். தங்கரத்தின பட்டர் சிவாசாரியார் கலந்து கொள்ள இயலாத நிலைமை ஏற்பட்டதால், வெங்கடேச குருக்கள் தலைமைப் பொறுப்பை ஏற்று, ஆகம முறைப்படி குடமுழுக்கு விழாவையும், பிராணப் பிரதிஷ்டைகளையும் நன்கு நிறைவேற்றினார். ஐந்து புரோஹிதர்கள் அவருக்கு உதவி செய்தனர்.
மூன்று நாள்கள் நிகழ்ந்த இத் திருநாள்களில் அனைவருக்கும், மூன்று வேலையும் உணவு வழங்கப்பட்டது. கோவில் தொண்டர்களே உணவு சமைத்து, பரிமாறும் திருப்பணியை மனமுவந்து செய்தனர். இயற்கை அன்னையும், தன் சீற்றத்தைக் குறைத்து, அந்த மூன்று நாள்களிலும் மிதமான வெப்பத்தையே தந்து அருளினாள். நூறு டிகிரிக்குப் பதிலாக, அதிகபட்ச வெப்பத்தை எழுபத்தி ஆறாகக் குறைத்தது கோவில் திருவிழாவுக்குத் தன் பங்கு திருப்பணியை இயற்கை அன்னை ஆற்றியதன்றி வேறொன்றும் இல்லை அல்லவே!
நானூற்றி ஐம்பது குடும்பங்கள் (ஆயிரம் பேருக்கும் அதிகமானோர்), சத்தியநாராயண பூஜை செய்தனர். அதற்காக மிகப் பெரிய கூடாரம் ஒரு தாற்காலிகமாக அமைக்கப்பட்டது.
இச் சமயம் ஒரு இறை அருள் பெற்ற நிகழ்ச்சி நடைபெற்றது. டென்வர் என்னும் பெருநகரில் உள்ள ஒரு பெண்மணியின் கனவில் இறைவி சிவகாமி தோன்றி, “நான் இங்கு வரப் போகிறேன். எனக்குத் திருவிழா நடக்கப்போகிறது. நீ அதற்கு வரவேண்டும்!” என்று அழைத்தார்களாம். அதுவரை அரிசோனா ஆலயத்தைப் பற்றிக்கூட அறியாத அந்த அம்மையார், எங்கு சிவகாமி அன்னை இருக்கிறாள் என்று விசாரித்து, அமெரிக்காவிலேயே அன்னை சிவகாமி பிரதிஷ்டை செய்யப்படப் போகும் கோவில் அரிசோனாவில் மட்டுமே உள்ளது என்று அறிந்து, குடமுழுக்குத் திருநாளுக்குத் தன் கணவருடன் வந்து, இக்கலி காலத்தில் நிகழ்ந்த அற்புதத்தை அனைவருக்கும் சொல்லிச் சொல்லி மகிழ்ந்தார். கேட்ட அனைவரும் மெய் சிலிர்த்துப் போனார்கள்.

இன்னொரு அடியவர் தன் தோட்டத்தில் விளைந்த, ஆனைமுகன் திருவுருவம் கொண்ட ஒரு பச்சைத் தக்காளியை எடுத்து வந்தார். அது ஆனைமுகனுக்கு அர்ப்பணிக்கப்பட்டது. நாட்டியப் பள்ளி மாணவிகள் ஆடியும், பாடியும், வந்த அனைவரையும் மகிழ்வித்தனர். மாலை நடராஜர்-சிவகாமி ஊர்வலத்திற்குப் பிறகு குடமுழக்கு விழா நிறைவு பெற்றது.
ஜூன் 28ல் நடராஜருக்கும், சத்யநாராயணருக்கும் மண்டல அபிஷேகம் நடைபெற்றது. அவ்வமயம், ராஜகோபுரம் கட்டும் பனியின் துவக்கமாக, வடக்கு கோபுரத்திற்கு வைக்கும் செங்கல்களுக்குச் சிறப்புப் பூஜை செய்யப் பட்டது.
அவைகளுடன், பக்தர்கள் தங்கள் பெயர்களை எழுதி உபயம் செய்த செங்கல்களும், பொசுக்கும் தரையின் சூட்டையும் பொருட்படுத்தாது, ஊர்வலமாக எடுத்து வரப் பட்டன. அவைகள் பக்தர்களால் கோபுரக் கட்டமைப்பின் முதல் சுற்றில் வைக்கப்பட்டன. கோபுரத் திருப்பணி அந்த நன்நாளில் துவக்கம் ஆகியது.

churches to multiply rapidly in church-planting movements

Gospel multiplies among India’s Lingayat people so much that coordinators may leave
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=22192



Christians in a southern India village, two hours from the closest city, are trained to visit homes and share the Gospel. During the training, they listen to a lecture and then practice sharing the Gospel with each other. by IMB.




Gospel glimmer
At a Lingayat temple in southern India, a Hindu priest receives worshipers and blesses their offerings. But the Gospel has begun to take root India’s 15 million Lingayat, with 3,000 believers having come to faith, most in the past two years. by IMB.
by Mark Kelly


EDITORS’ NOTE: This year’s Week of Prayer for International Missions, Dec. 4-11, focuses on eight strategy coordinator missionaries and a church serving as a strategy coordinator, exemplifying the global outreach supported by Southern Baptists’ gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. The first of the stories features Marty Hunter, who works among the Lingayats of India. Strategy-coordinator missionaries play a key role in reaching the whole world with the Gospel, focusing focus on people groups and cities by studying cultures, learning languages and developing master plans for reaching every individual with the Gospel. They enlist other missionaries, volunteers, local Christians and prayer partners to help carry out those plans to see the Gospel spread quickly and churches to multiply rapidly in church-planting movements that can only be explained as works of God.
NEW DELHI (BP)--God has moved so dramatically among one Last Frontier people group in South Asia that the Southern Baptist missionaries working among them since 1997 are planning to shift their focus to another people without access to the Gospel.

When Marty and Jodi Hunter* decided to accept responsibility for taking the gospel to India’s Lingayat people, other Christian workers didn’t offer them much hope of success. In 1997, researchers could count only 800 Christians and no churches among the Lingayats, a high-caste Hindu group that numbers 15 million.

“People discouraged us, saying the people were hard-hearted, that the work would be fruitless,” Hunter said. “Today we’re looking at about 3,000 believers -– most of them people who have come to faith in the past two years.”

The number of Lingayat believers is growing so rapidly that Hunter believes they will see 18,000 believers in 1,000 house churches by 2006 -– a movement strong enough to be left in the capable hands of local believers trained to reproduce themselves.

Several factors have played a role in sparking this church-planting movement, evidencing reflecting a spontaneous, rapid multiplication of the Gospel:

-- Prayer –- “Southern Baptists prayed specifically for this people group in 2000,” Hunter said. “Not many months later, we began seeing an amazing outbreak of the Gospel that has been going on now for three years. We see a direct link between the outpouring of prayer and Lingayat people coming to Christ.”

-- Lingayat witnesses –- “We knew that, ultimately, a Lingayat is going to receive the Gospel message best from one of their own people,” Hunter said. “Previously, we had only trained willing Christians from other people groups. We saw a turning point in 2002 when we trained the first Lingayat believers to reach their own people.”

-- Customized material –- “We had some Lingayat believers write Gospel tracts for their own people, using some of their own distinctive symbols and vocabulary,” Hunter said. The Lingayat team had planned to print 10,000 of the tracts, but the Bible society insisted on a minimum press run of 100,000. “We saw that the principle of sowing abundantly and reaping abundantly holds true with Gospel seeds,” he said. “Before long, we found ourselves ordering a second 100,000 tracts -– and now we’re on our third!”

-- Family evangelism -– “When Hindus have come to Christ in the past, they often were encouraged to leave their families. New believers became isolated and didn’t have a voice with their families,” Hunter said. “Now we emphasize that new believers should go back to their families with the Gospel. We point out that the Geresene Demoniac wanted to leave his community, but Jesus told him to go home and tell them what the Lord had done. When Jesus came back, a multitude of 4,000 people wouldn’t leave His feet! When Lingayats see that God’s will is for them to stay and win their community to Christ, the Gospel spreads rapidly.”

-- Training trainers -– The Lingayat team also trained new believers in a set of simple concepts they could easily pass on to people they led to Christ -– harnessing the passion of new believers and transforming them into multiplying trainers. “In one case, I trained a group of 10 believers. They came back and reported that 30 people had come to Christ,” Hunter recounted. “I told them that when we came back in another 10 days, we would not discuss who they had led to Christ, only the experience of those 30 new believers who had been trained to share their story. When they came back, they reported that those 30 new believers had led 270 people to Christ!”

Even when the time comes to leave the work entirely in the hands of Lingayat believers, the Hunters won’t have a hard time finding another people group in need of the Gospel.

“There are nearly 1,000 other people groups just like the Lingayat in South Asia -– hidden people groups that have been overlooked with the Gospel,” Hunter said. “About 50 percent of Last Frontier people groups are Hindu peoples.

“That is such a major bloc of the Great Commission -– one that’s really neglected.”
-–30–-
* Names changed for security reasons.
PRAYER POINTS

Ask God to move among the Lingayat people of India:

-– Pray that He would deepen the hunger Lingayat people feel to know Him.

-– Ask Him to reveal the truth about Jesus to Lingayats and draw them to Christ.

-– Pray that His Spirit would embolden and strengthen Lingayat believers to bear witness effectively in their communities.

-– Join Christian workers and local believers in Karnataka state as they pray for 140,000 new believers and 10,000 churches in 2005.

-– Ask God to help Southern Baptists understand the need – and their responsibility – to take the gospel to all who have yet to hear.

-– Ask Him to multiply the number of believers and churches until they cover South Asia “as the waters cover the sea.”
MEDIA RESOURCES

The Lingayat of India -– and a thousand other people groups just like them -– need you to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Here’s how you can help:

-- Learn more about the unreached peoples of South Asia

http://www.neglectedfields.net

-- Pray for the people of South Asia

http://www.neglectedfields.net/pray.htm

-- Give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

http://ime.imb.org

-- Lead your church to pray and give

http://ime.imb.org/dayofprayer

-- Lead your church to be a strategy coordinator

http://www.neglectedfields.net/pt.htm

-- Discover opportunities for service in South Asia

www.go2southasia.org

-- Ask a question or share a comment

go2southasia@pobox.com

Who am I?"- Part 24: CREATOR IS CREATION

hariH om
"Who am I?"- Part 24: CREATOR IS CREATION




...That is why our God is happily married. I prostrate to Lord Siva and Goddess Parvati who are the parents of our creation.

Like a word and its meaning, the Goddess, the material cause, and the God, the efficient cause are inseparable. Is there a creation without the material cause? The creation involves the material calls which is called Shakti, the Goddess and efficient cause is called the Purusha, Siva.

Purusha and Prakriti, Ishvara and mAyA. The creation is apparrent as I told you, and we must have an apparent cause for it.

This apparent cause is called mAyA. That is the material. The whole creation is ishvara. That is why one cannot appreciate Indian culture unless one knows what Ishvara is. Our ishvara is not up in the heaven. God cannot be outside the creation. God cannot be inside the creation. If he is inside the creation how is he going to create? If he is outside createion, there is NO such thing as "outside creation" therefore God is... God is creation. That is God can neither be inside nor outside creation

Therefore there is nothing outside creation, thus the reason why for a Hindu, the sun is God, the stars, planets, earth, tree, mountain, air, bird... EVERYTHING is God for him.

Everything is God,What is not God? suppose you want to touch me and you touch my little finger. Would I feel that I have been touched only a little? Again if you touch my middle finger, is it that I get a little more touch? and if you pull my hand a little more attention? In that case to get my full attention you should give me a massage! But that is not so. Even if you touch my little finger, you are touching me.

I am equally present everywhere in the body and every part of the body is "I". Similarly any form is Lord's form and so I can see the Lord in any form.

People say that Hindus are idolaters, that they have many Gods. But those who have only one God also have one God, pls the devotee because God is always taken to be different from the self. Whereas the Hindus have god ONLY the God. The devotee is not different from him. That is advaita

They, the dvaitins (dualists) have got one God plus man. They have made God an entity sitting somewhere in heaven. But it does not make sense. If God is only one thing, he is not this, he is not that. If I am different from God, then every living being and similarly inter things are also excluded from God. Then he must have his own physical body. Thus God becomes limited spatially. he becomes limited in power too. Because I have a certain power which he does not have. Every small little thing in creation has got some power which is excluded from God and therefore he should be a limited entity like my big uncle sitting somewhere!

And then why should I worship him? I also have got my ego and therefore I may ask him to worship me for a change. This does not make sense because if he is limited He cannot be called God

The Lord is the creation. He cannot be apart from the creation. Every form is his form and every name is his name. And naturally therefore I can invoke him in any name. in any form. That is why we accept any form to worship God. I may not accept your concept of God, but I would accept your form of worship

God must know all languages. If we pray in sanskrit he should be able to understand the language. Sanskrit is considered to be the language of Gods. It is a very well made language. But then he should be able to understand any language

Even without language also if we pray he should be able to understand. Well that is God and until I know him I worship him in form

What is Karma ?

When one thinks of the words of Kriya, Karma and Karma Yoga one immediately thinks of Bhagavad Gita only. Nowhere does one find Karma Yog so thoroughly analysed and explained as in the Gita. Any student of Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) will want to know the real meaning of these terms.

Before proceeding we need to know about the Prakriti or nature. Prakriti is defined as the combination of Kriya and Jada (or matter). These both have a beginning and an end. For example, the changes that happen in our bodies are kriyas . The material body is the matter.

What is Karma ?

Karma happens when there is an ‘ownership’ to a Kriya. In a person’s life many kriyas are continuously happening. But, the moment that person feels that they are his deeds, ‘Karma’ is born. Here the ‘person’ is the ‘Chetna- the Self’ who is the very source who illumines the body (which is made up of Kriya and matter).

River Ganga flows on her own and irrigates the land wherever she goes. This flow is a ‘Kriya’. Whether she destroys are irrigates, there is no Papa (sin) or Punya attached to its flow.

A person’s body grows from childhood to Youth and ultimately to old age. This process is a ‘Kriya’. But when he thinks that ‘he’ is getting old and changing, that moment a ‘Karma’ is born. Karma is the marriage of the Self and the Kriya. To put it simply, the ‘I’ feeling in a ‘Kriya’ leads to a Karma. This is called the eternal bondage of the Self and Nature.

The Ahankara or ‘I- feeling’ is the source of all bondage. Because of this bondage , man forgot the real immense power inside him and came to identify himself with his body (and mind and intellect) which are a part of the nature. 'yagnyArthat karmano(a)nyatra loko(a)yam karma bandhana:' ( Gita 3-9)

In this context, how shall we define Yog ?

Well, Yog is that process that strives to release the self from its bondage to the nature.

When this process is focused on the actions going on in this world and helps man to get a release from these actions, it is called as Karma Yog. Karma is bondage. Yog is release. Karma is centred on this world. Yog is centred on 'Self' or God.

Shri Krishna says that man can never be without doing Karma (Gita 3-5). Even when he thinks he is idle and still. His body is changing per second, his mind is rushing into every possible direction. His intellect is also continuously analyzing every thought. The wise distances these kriyas as that of the nature. He has realized that his real 'Self' is untouched by these kriyas.

But , is there a message in all this for a common man ? There is. Only as long as the 'I' feeling remains in oneself, he will be bound to the world. The way to release from this is simple. First, he has divert all his karmas towards the welfare of the world at large. This is the first step. Here, the 'I' feeling is blunted. This leads to real Karmayog. Karmayog in turn destroys the bondage of the Self -' yagnyAcharata: karma samagram pravileeyate' (Gita 4-23). And finally the man realizes his eternal relation with ParamAtman.

Karma yog is one of the four Royal paths of realization as expounded in the Gita. Karma Yoga is a specialty of Sanatan Dharma and every modern Management exponent finds in it the ideal tool for defining work and result.

Karma Yoga affirms emphatically that man has no right over the fruits of his actions. It is only in working that he has the right.
Shri Krishna goes further saying that the 'I' feeling and the resultant expectation of the outcome of karma is what binds man to the world more and more. The only way out , therefore, is doing your duty regardless of the outcome. Even better, do it for others' sake. Still better, dedicate the whole work in the feet of the Lord.
ओ३म् तत् सत् ।।

Your Office Chair Is Killing You

Your Office Chair Is Killing You
If you're reading this article sitting down—the position we all hold more than any other, for an average of 8.9 hours a day—stop and take stock of how your body feels. Is there an ache in your lower back? A light numbness in your rear and lower thigh? Are you feeling a little down?

These symptoms are all normal, and they're not good. They may well be caused by doing precisely what you're doing—sitting. New research in the diverse fields of epidemiology, molecular biology, biomechanics, and physiology is converging toward a startling conclusion: Sitting is a public-health risk. And exercising doesn't offset it. "People need to understand that the qualitative mechanisms of sitting are completely different from walking or exercising," says University of Missouri microbiologist Marc Hamilton. "Sitting too much is not the same as exercising too little. They do completely different things to the body."

In a 2005 article in Science magazine, James A. Levine, an obesity specialist at the Mayo Clinic, pinpointed why, despite similar diets, some people are fat and others aren't. "We found that people with obesity have a natural predisposition to be attracted to the chair, and that's true even after obese people lose weight," he says. "What fascinates me is that humans evolved over 1.5 million years entirely on the ability to walk and move. And literally 150 years ago, 90% of human endeavor was still agricultural. In a tiny speck of time we've become chair-sentenced," Levine says.
Story: Not Just at Desks, Standing Is Now for Meetings, Too
Hamilton, like many sitting researchers, doesn't own an office chair. "If you're standing around and puttering, you recruit specialized muscles designed for postural support that never tire," he says. "They're unique in that the nervous system recruits them for low-intensity activity and they're very rich in enzymes." One enzyme, lipoprotein lipase, grabs fat and cholesterol from the blood, burning the fat into energy while shifting the cholesterol from LDL (the bad kind) to HDL (the healthy kind). When you sit, the muscles are relaxed, and enzyme activity drops by 90% to 95%, leaving fat to camp out in the bloodstream. Within a couple hours of sitting, healthy cholesterol plummets by 20%.

The data back him up. Older people who move around have half the mortality rate of their peers. Frequent TV and Web surfers (sitters) have higher rates of hypertension, obesity, high blood triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood sugar, regardless of weight. Lean people, on average, stand for two hours longer than their counterparts.

The chair you're sitting in now is likely contributing to the problem. "Short of sitting on a spike, you can't do much worse than a standard office chair," says Galen Cranz, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. She explains that the spine wasn't meant to stay for long periods in a seated position. Generally speaking, the slight S shape of the spine serves us well. "If you think about a heavy weight on a C or S, which is going to collapse more easily? The C," she says. But when you sit, the lower lumbar curve collapses, turning the spine's natural S-shape into a C, hampering the abdominal and back musculature that support the body. The body is left to slouch, and the lateral and oblique muscles grow weak and unable to support it.
Story: How to Game Your First Workplace
This, in turn, causes problems with other parts of the body. "When you're standing, you're bearing weight through the hips, knees, and ankles," says Dr. Andrew C, Hecht, co-chief of spinal surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center. "When you're sitting, you're bearing all that weight through the pelvis and spine, and it puts the highest pressure on your back discs. Looking at MRIs, even sitting with perfect posture causes serious pressure on your back."

Much of the perception about what makes for healthy and comfortable sitting has come from the chair industry, which in the 1960s and '70s started to address widespread complaints of back pain from workers. A chief cause of the problem, companies publicized, was a lack of lumbar support. But lumbar support doesn't actually help your spine. "You cannot design your way around this problem," says Cranz. "But the idea of lumbar support has become so embedded in people's conception of comfort, not their actual experience on chairs. We are, in a sense, locked into it."

Comment casser le maya et voir la connexion entre moi et toute personne ou chose qui est dans l'univers ?

Comment casser le maya et voir la connexion entre moi et toute personne ou chose qui est dans l'univers ?

En prenant conscience de votre esprit fragmenté, de vos conceptions, vos attitudes, vos préjugés.

En prenant conscience de l'esprit qui sent, voit, écoute, juge et choisit.

Quand vous voyez une fleur, ce n'est pas comme si cette fleur est là toute seule.

Entre vous et la fleur, un écran de pensée existe,

Entre vous et cette fleur, une attitude particulière sur la fleur existe.

Entre vous et cette rose, votre idée imprégnée de l'expérience du passé, un rien préjugé d'une idée de beauté, une sensation subjective d'une soirée existe.

Sinon il n'y aurait pas d'obstacle entre vous et la fleur. Vous seriez un.

Si vos différentes impressions et pensées ne dressaient pas un écran invisible entre vous et cette fleur, vous seriez un et non deux,

Vous seriez interchangeables entre vous et la fleur , à tel point qu'aucune distinction puisse vous séparer !

Vous et la fleur seriez deux extrêmes d'une seule et même existence,

Vous et la fleur, vous seriez deux extrémités d'un seul et même instant.

Si votre esprit n'etait pas là, votre conscience et l'épanouissement de la fleur seraient deux points extrêmes d'un même processus.

Mais si votre esprit est là (car il est toujours là), vous n'êtes pas juste en train de voir seulement la fleur et rien que la fleur, votre vision a une empreinte de quelque chose sur elle, vous voyez en termes de vos propres conceptions, vos propres goûts et dégoûts.

Vous dites: «c'est une rose." Mais il n'y a pas une telle chose comme 'rose'. La rose elle-même ne sait pas qu'elle est une rose. Nous sommes ceux qui l'ont appelé ainsi en lui donnant un nom "rose" pour designer une fleur et la distinguer de toutes les autres fleurs;

Et le moment où vous dites 'rose', tout ce qui est associé avec le mot «rose» se dresse entre vous et la fleur en face de vous.

Le mot a donc de nombreuses associations. Si votre culture dit qu'une rose est belle, la fleur devient magnifique. Si votre culture est contre les roses, alors il devient laid.

Si votre religion est contre la pomme, la manger est considéré comme un peché originel, alors là votre vision s'en trouve altérée.

Si votre expérience avec des roses est associée à la douleur avec des épines, la rose est associée avec la souffrance.

Si vos associations sont de nature à vous évoquer un état d'esprit joyeux , alors là, la rose devient quelque chose de plaisant et agréable.

Mais pendant tout ce temps, la rose elle-même reste le même.

Vous voyez avec votre esprit. Votre esprit détruit ce qui est réel et crée quelque chose d'imaginaire, hallucinatoire.

Si vous n'avez pas un préjugé , une pensée quelconque, si vous pouvez voir la rose sans votre esprit; si votre vision est totalement innocent, toute fraîche; si votre vision ne vient pas du passé; si vous et la rose, vous vivez simultanément "le moment présent " sans oscillez entre le passé et le futur, si vous êtes sans aucune pensée :si vous restez dans un état de pure conscience ou dans un état existentiel , alors là, la rose n'est pas connu comme quelque chose de séparé. Alors , vous savez que la rose fait partie intégrante de votre conscience.

Par conséquent, la floraison de la rose est votre propre épanouissement; puis le parfum de la rose est votre propre parfum; alors votre conscience est la conscience de la rose.

L'identification n'est pas un acte de dualisme mais prend source dans le non-dualisme que les védas appellent , "advaita" (duvaita = dualisme et ad vaita = non-dualisme).



C'est le sentiment! Il ne peut pas être exprimé exactement, mais le sentiment est comme ceci: c'est comme si c'est vous qui avez fleuri dans la rose ou la rose a pris conscience d'elle-même à travers vous.

DHARMA , ARTHA, KAMA, MOKSHA LES 4 PRINCIPES DE BASE DE l'HINDOUISME

Quatre Purusharthas - Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha Les quatre Purusharthas ou des objectifs de la vie humaine sont: 1. Dharma (la droiture, le devoir et l'ordre moral) 2. Artha (la richesse et  la prospérité) 3. Kama (les désirs sensuels et biologiques) 4. Moksha (la libération) Les hindous n'ont jamais négligé un aspect quelconque de la vie dans toutes ses facettes.
Ici, vous remarquerez que gagner de l'argent et assouvir ses désirs sexuels sont acceptés tant que cela se passe dans le cadre dharmique ou moral.
(Ici, on ne vous traite pas d'emblé d'être un pécheur afin de vous donner juste après la solution unique et invérifiable.)
Les quatre buts ou les efforts de la vie humaine constituent la feuille de route pour une vie heureuse sur la terre et au-delà. Essayons de comprendre chacun des objectifs brièvement: 1. Dharma est le fondement et le premier des quatre buts de l'homme. Dharma se réfère à des droits et devoirs moraux, les obligations morales et la conduite selon des principes moraux, à savoir, faire vidhis (départ) et nishedhs (ne pas faire). Dharma est toujours donné une plus grande importance, dans le Ramayana, Rama lui-même représenté le Dharma et a été couronné comme un roi. Dans Mahabharata, Krishna  couronne le "Dharma roopa " (celui qui répresente dhrama)  Yugishtir comme roi. 2. Artha, est le deuxième but de la vie pour le maître de maison pour la réalisation de la richesse et de la prospérité matérielle. Les efforts ou les moyens de réaliser cet objectif doivent avoir une base juste et morale. Elle doit être fondée sur le dharma ou des moyens légaux. 3. Kama, est l'accomplissement des désirs biologiques, physiques et matérielles. Le chef de famille est chargé par les shastras à remplir légitimement ses désirs mondains en conformité avec les canons du dharma. Artha et Kama sont des objectifs importants pour la croissance et le progrès de la société. 4. Moksha signifie la libération de l'emprise de  maya, la liberation des cycles de la naissance et de la mort, et les expériences de bonheur divin. C'est le but ultime de la vie humaine. Il est obtenu en prenant le refuge en Dieu ou en recevant "le dkkshai" auprès d' un Gourou .  Hari Om.

let us correct our societal trajectory on dharma path

The overall progress of a nation can be gauged by looking at the proportion of its efforts that go toward the fulfillment of dharma and mokśa puruśarthas, as opposed to only artha and kāma.

Society, especially as it stands today, has primarily become kāma pradhāna, with lesser value given to the higher ideals of dharma.

Estonian e-governance can be a role model for NDA’s NPR scheme

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Tigutorn Tower, Tartu’s tallest building, behind the Emajõe Centre, the city’s second highest tower. (Photo by Wiki.org)

Digitisation initiative in Estonia and its ability to provide efficient administration puts it in a different league. After gaining independence from erstwhile Soviet Union in 1991, the country has progressed at a rapid pace which no other country could have matched, considering the small time frame. However, despite several challenges, this tiny country has thrived on its own as an independent and democratic country. The most extraordinary thing about Estonia excels in understanding and utilising technology for public welfare. It ranks high on internet density and offers world-class education to its people.
How Estonia leads the tech-race?
After two decades of hard work, it is a world leader in technology. How did this happen? Estonians redesigned and overhauled their entire information and infrastructure for simple and yet strong governance. In 2005, Estonia became the first country to allow online voting in a general election, while other countries are still debating on the concept of online voting because of various security concerns. Despite obvious concerns regarding hacking threats, Estonian Government has built a system which considerably minimises hacker’s success. And so far, they have succeeded in it. Estonians have built the technology platform which is user-friendly making it accessible. The Government uses a simple, unique ID methodology across systems to make governance easier for its citizens. The ID is used by all to avoid paper work and tedious processes. The digital IDs are useful in keeping track of passports, banks, Government offices and hospitals. Such an easy process is a result of positive and simple approach by the Government and its citizens.
How does it work? 

The Estonian Government issues unique pins and logins for online Government services to its citizens, so they already have a secure infrastructure in place. Clearly, Estonians are early adopters of this technology. This probably will be the way of the future and many countries can learn from it.
Estonia passed the Digital Signatures Act in 2000 by standardising a National Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which binds citizen identities to their cryptographic keys to make the digital signature more authentic. This way, the Government cannot turn down a citizen’s digitally signed document and demand a paper copy instead. As citizens opt for convenience, bureaucrats see a higher inflow of digital forms and in turn invest in systems that will help them manage the process. However, to prevent this system from becoming outdated in the future, the Government did not lock in the technical nitty-gritties of digital signatures. The Government changes its implementation from time to time. Initially, Estonian authorities used to a microchip in the traditional ID cards issued to every citizen for identification and domestic travel inside the European Union. The chip carries two certificates, i.e., one for legal signatures and the other for authentication when using a website or any service that recognises Government’s identification system, i.e., online banking. Every person over 15 years of age is required to have an ID card, and there are now over 1.2 million active cards, which comes close to 100 per cent penetration of the population.
In 2000, when the Estonian authorities declared Internet access to be a human right, the web spread into the boondocks. Free Wi-Fi became commonplace. Rubber stamps, carbon paper and long queues gave way to “e-government”. Therefore, to accelerate processes, the Government tendered building and securing the digital signature-certificate systems to private parties, including local banks and telecoms, which enables integrated e-services for various sectors. For example, the Estonian Government was the first one to follow flat tax system in Europe. While Estonia is fairly a small sample because of low population in comparison to other countries, the results have been quite positive so far. However, many countries who adopted a flat tax after Estonia, could not do well to contain the economic crisis, and reverted back to the traditional ways of book keeping. Despite criticism from various quarters, the country believes it is still the best system, because the economy has recovered from the crisis. To achieve this, the Government increased the Value Added Tax (VAT), which helped the Government to restrict expenditure.
What India can learn from Estonia
Like Estonia, India too is trying to introduce a digital based identity format for easy governance. However, the scheme Adhaar or UID could not be implemented properly due to unclear policy issues. But with main thrust on good governance, which is based on ‘responsiveness, transparency and accountability through e-governance, ‘ one sees possibilities from Estonian style of governance. In fact, emphasis on usage of technology for better governance and reaching out to his people being a vital cog for this, technology upgradation and popularisation is imminent. Moreover, India has shown immense potential with rising net usability vis-a-vis net density. Which surely is an indicator that people are open to adaptation for personal benefit. While security concerns need to be addressed more aggressively since the threats are larger, yet the need to extend reach of the Government to the doorstep of every individual can be fulfilled only with a digital revolution.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had repeatedly said, “The time has come for the political class to adapt to technology and reinvent itself! It needs to embrace the Internet’s many powerful facets. The political class needs to stop seeing technology as a problem creator, and start harnessing it in the right spirit.” His mantra was based on 5 ‘E’s meaning ‘ease, economy, efficiency, effectiveness and ethics, and he made sure that technology was used as an important tool for governance!
If these 5 ‘E’s are seriously followed and implemented by the Government then India will progress without many hiccups which was not the case under the UPA rule. Moreover, everything has to be paced judiciously well. Aadhar Card and National Population record can be used effectively by Narendra Modi-led Government towards this end.

The Union Home Ministry has asked the Registrar General of India (RGI) to identify the ‘citizens’ and ‘non-citizens’ while preparing the National Population Register (NPR) various newspaper reports suggested. Under this the NPR authorities will undertake a door-to-door verification exercise across the country in this regard.
The citizens’ register, to be called the National Register of Indian Citizens, will serve as the database for national identity cards carrying a unique national identity number for each citizen of the country, besides other identification fields.
According to Times of India report, “NPR authorities will carry out the nationwide verification exercise to establish the citizenship of each and every person on its population database. A list of 19 documents, including birth certificate, death certificate, land records, school records – have been identified for proof of citizenship”.
Here the Estonian model of e-governance can play a pivotal role in developing India.  Indian authorities can draw some inspiration from Estonia’s Cyber Defence League, which will help India in protecting sensitive date against hacking. The model could make governance take a proactive role, where every decision making take people’s opinion into account.
Estonian ID card system can help India in taking NPR-UID experiment to a more efficient level, thus becoming a pathbreaking example of e-governance among nations with large population size. Clearly, Modi Government can ensure corruption and babudom becomes obsolete with the emergence of a tech-friendly nation.

WILL AMERICA DO A "SOUL SEARCHING" ?

"America seems to be seriously adrift. On the surface level, the peripheral symptoms of this crisis point to severe economic, social, political, and even environmental concerns. The deeper problem, however, is one of a decades long, continually increasing existential angst in the hearts and the minds of the people, even in the midst of an artificially constructed culture that is exclusively devoted to a seemingly unending commercial frenzy, entertainment-fueled escapism, and the rabid pursuit of self-pleasure at the expense of self-realization. Times of crisis, however, are often also times of tremendous opportunity. They are a gift from God meant to help us contemplate the deeper meaning of our lives, and to reorder our lives in accordance with His will and with His Dharma." (Pg. 81, The Dharma Manifesto, by Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya.)

INDIAN defence expenditure

According to a report, India’s imports of major weapons went up by more than 100 per cent since 2004, of which about 75 per cent were from Russia. America became the top exporter to India in 2013 as measured by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), mainly due to purchase of Boeing’s military C-17 heavy transport aircraft and P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine planes. Clearly the defence expenditure, which has been one of the biggest part of India’s budgetary expenses, has cost the country a huge chunk of its foreign exchange

Wake up India unless you want Enron like situation.

This brings me to my favourite topic of "India is the largest democracy". Can you understand, "Why the West showers such pseudo praises"? It makes it easy for them to use, abuse and misuse in the name of such Kleptocracy. That's why US/West is keen to foster democracy but only in places that don't let them sneak in. Take for example, Egypt, Bahrain, they have tyrant rulers backed by West beuse they are able to molest these states ad lib without protest. They don't mind the tyrants ruling. Others must confirm to American/Western "standard" (having no standard) of "democracy" that makes it easy for them. Time to wake up to this brute reality of nuke lashed West. All weaker states should realise this brute truth of West, cooperate and develop their own "total" independence to shun these nuke lashed countries to protect themselves. Political leadership must wake up to this reality.
India should also beware of these adversaries for its language ease in English and must try to evolve its own national language. Indian media also must be Indianised however hard their Western stooges make it for the vested interests. One must also beware of their agents lurking on the internet and commenting to deflct the Indian youth to subvert their young gullible minds. Wake up India unless you want Enron like situation.

IDEA OF INDIA CONCLAVE

The Indian Communists-Marxists idea of 'Secular' India described below. Please comment your opinions on 'theirs' Idea of India.
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IDEA OF INDIA CONCLAVE
July 4-5, 2014, New Delhi...

Central to our idea of India is the affirmation of its diversity. The India we are part of belongs equally to all persons who make it its own – no matter what their religious faith (or the lack of it), their gender, caste, class, language, physical abilities and sexual orientation. The bedrock of the Indian republic is the promise that all its citizens can find space in which to practise their beliefs and cultures, and live freely, confident they will be equally protected by the law of the land.

This inclusive idea of India was stressed by Dr Ambedkar as the essential democratic idea of fraternity. This larger idea of fraternity or social solidarity also leads to the idea of the good state as one which defends the oppressed and disadvantaged, and ensures their access to basic rights necessary for a life with dignity.

Unfortunately, not everyone shares this idea of India. There is another idea of India, an idea of majoritarian domination, which is alien to the social and political philosophy on which this country was built and consolidated.

This is what this other idea of India leads to. Riots, polarisation. The pulling back of the state from public expenditure on health, education and nutrition in favour of large subsidies to the private sector, weakening of labour and environmental protections, and the theft of natural resources in the name of development. And to enable all of this, a curbing of freedom so people can be told what to think, read, write, say, paint.

For instance: riots have been and are being engineered to polarise communities. Whether in Muzzafarnagar or the Bodo areas in Assam, or more recently in Pune, targeted hate violence is cynically used for electoral benefits. In places such as Bellary or Mundra, big capital seeks to appropriate natural resources, destroying people's livelihoods in the process. And as for freedom of speech and the right to dissent – rights that underpin Indian diversity - they are under attack on numerous fronts.

A number of self-appointed custodians tell us what we should not read or write, and how we should not behave. They seek to tell us what Indian Culture is, as if we are not part of this culture with all its rich multiplicity. They want to ban books; tell people who they can or cannot marry, what clothes they should not wear, what foods they should not eat. They want to make a list of rules for young and old in their use of the social media.

To discuss our Idea of India as distinct from theirs -- particularly in the light of the recent Lok Sabha elections -- we plan a two day national convention and seminar on 4 and 5 July, 2014, in Delhi. We will bring together many public intellectuals and human rights and other activists so we can all speak to each other, and understand the contemporary practice of this Idea of India and the challenges it faces today. If we evaluate it in all its complexity, we can move toward strengthening the collective practice of the idea of India -– whether social, economic, or political -– and build resistance against attacks on the rich and diverse nature of the Indian nation.

We appeal to all of you – secular and democratic citizens, movements and groups – to join us in this conference and help us move forward. We will send you more details presently.

Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Anand Patwardhan, Balachander Mungekar, Githa Hariharan, Girish Karnad Harsh Mander, Indira Jaisingh, John Dayal, Kancha Illiah, K Sachitanand, KN Pannikar, Kolse Patil Mahesh Bhatt, Mallika Sarabhai, Nandita Das, Nayantara Sahgal, Prabhat Patnaik, Prabir Purkayastha Ram Puniyani, Romila Thapar, Rooprekha Verma, Saeed Mirza, Seema Mustafa, Shabnam Hashmi, SP Shukla, Syeda Hameed, Vivan Sundaram, Zaheeruddin Ali

E-mail : ideaofindiaconclave@gmail.com

LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A TIME GIVEN TO US TO EXPERIMENT THIS TRUTH.

Vedas clearly states that there is Brahman alone and any difference seen in this world is due to delusion. Human faces may be different and diversity in nature can be seen in every nook and corner of the universe but the reality deep inside is the same. All human beings are abodes of the same spark of fire. when you do ill to your neighbour , it is almost that you are doing it to yourself ! Kathopanishad says that any one who sees differences in this world goes from birth to death and then again he takes again birth until he disappears  in a never ending vicious circle until he realises the truth that his life is nothing but the experiment time of this truth alone.

PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OF INDIA SHOULD GET GOVERNMENT ATTENTION

Improving the distribution of agricultural products: Distribution systems are extremely unequal in India, and often unreliable. Access to food and other agricultural goods must be increased in terms both of availability (delivery) and affordability.
Dr. Suman Sahai

US spy agency NSA was authorized in 2010 to carry out surveillance on BJP: Washington Post report

US spy agency NSA was authorized in 2010 to carry out surveillance on BJP: Washington Post report
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Copy of the report : http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/list-of-foreign-governments-and-organizations-authorized-for-surveillance/1133/
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America’s top spy agency was authorised by a US court in 2010 to carry out surveillance on the BJP along with five other political organisations across the globe, including Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and... Pakistan Peoples Party, according to a classified document.

BJP figures in the list of foreign political parties along with Lebanon’s Amal, the Bolivarian Continental Coordinator of Venezuela, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian National Salvation Front and the Pakistan Peoples Party for whom the National Security Agency (NSA) had sought permission to carry out surveillance, says the document made public by The Washington Post on Monday.
The document lists the 193 foreign governments as well as foreign factions and other entities that were part of a 2010 certification approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The list includes India and in particular BJP, a major national party of India.
It said each year a new certification must be approved by the court to permit such surveillance under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act.
“Virtually no foreign government is off-limits for the National Security Agency, which has been authorised to intercept information ‘concerning’ all but four countries, according to top-secret documents,” The Post reported.
The four countries are Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Without specifically responding to questions related to surveillance on India and the BJP in particular, NSA spokesperson Vanee’ Vines said that the agency collects foreign intelligence based on specific intelligence requirements set by the President, the Director of National Intelligence, CIA and departments and agencies through the National Intelligence Priorities Framework.
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Source: Indian Express

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld France's law banning face-covering Muslim veils

PARIS (AP) — The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday upheld France's law banning face-covering Muslim veils from the streets, in a case brought by a woman who claimed her freedom of religion was violated.

The ruling by the Strasbourg-based court was the first of its kind since France passed a law in 2010 that forbids anyone to hide his or her face in an array of places, including the street. The law went into effect in 2011.

The court's Grand Chamber rejected the arguments of the French woman in her mid-20s, a practicing Muslim not identified by name. She said she doesn't hide her face at all times, but when she does it is to be at peace with her faith, her culture and convictions. She stressed in her complaint that no one, including her husband, forced her to conceal her face — something of particular concern to French authorities.

The court ruled that the law's bid to promote harmony in a diverse population is legitimate and doesn't breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

Critics of the ban, including human rights defenders, contend the law targets Muslims and stigmatizes Islam. France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, estimated at five million, making the issue particularly sensitive.

Under the law, women who cover their faces can be fined up to 150 euros ($205) or be obliged to attend a citizenship class, or both.

When enacted, the law was seen as a security measure, with veiled women considered fundamentalists and potential candidates for extremist views. Another concern was respect for the French model of integration in which people of different origins are expected to assimilate.

The court concluded the ban is a "choice of society," giving France a wide margin of appreciation — all the more so because there is no common ground in Europe on the issue. Only a minority of countries ban face veils.

Debate on over Catholic Church properties

Debate on over Catholic Church properties

New Delhi: A debate in whether church properties in India should be governed by the government. Some leading figures from the community demanded a law at the recently held All India Catholic Union Conclave. But, the bishops are not ready.

The Catholic Church in India owns the largest chunk of non-agricultural land, and is known as the second largest employer after the Government of India.

It's annual budget equals that of the Indian Navy but the Catholic community has been asking where is the money and where is the transparency?

Their recent conclave in Goa discussed the tangle.

"All over the world churches are subjected to the law of the state. There cannot be a state within a state. Religious organisations cannot form a state within a state," says Catholic leader and former Union minister Eduardo Faleiro.

But, the shocked clergy are not in a mood to change their system. They claim that the demand is absurd and allows government interference.

"If you have a Waqf Board you are giving too much control to the government. That will add to large scale corruption as we have seen where ever government has been in control of religious properties and institutions either in Islam or even in Hindu temples," claims Catholic community leader Dr John Dayal.

The Catholic Church in India is over 500 years old and has total control over its assets across the country.

Some Catholics feel the bishops are not the right people to handle properties worth several lakh crores. But so far, the government has kept quite on the row.

Christianisation of Chennai Doordarshan's Podhigai Channel

Christianisation of Chennai Doordarshan's Podhigai Channel
08/04/2010 14:17:19 By Thamizhchelvan - http://www.vijayvaani.com/


Christianisation – A small backdrop


The Church functions with the sole agenda of Christianisation of the entire world. Christian Institutions of all denominations have the expertise to Christianise non-Christian nations, investing their political clout and money power for ‘harvesting’. The invasion of American, African and Australian countries, annihilating the natives, destroying their culture, planting the Cross, constructing the Church and ultimately establishing the Christian Regime are discernible chapters of world history. If this kind of invasion is one method of Christianising a nation, the other method is by gaining entry in the garb of trade and service, permeating all sectors of governance with political motives and finally achieving the main objective of Christianisation.

The Christian onslaught on India, which started with the arrival of the Portuguese, Dutch and French, attained greater heights during British rule. It would not be an exaggeration to say it has reached its zenith under the alien headed UPA government. Apart from conquering mountain ranges (tribal villages) and coastal regions (fishermen hamlets), the Church has penetrated the interior regions in the name of educational and health services and grabbed vast stretches of land, to the extent that the Church is the second largest land owner in India, next only to the government.

After attaining freedom through years of struggle and sacrifice, our modern founding fathers failed to exile Christian Missionaries and Institutions. They committed the big blunder of giving huge concessions to Christians and Muslims in the name of ‘minority’ rights while framing the Constitution. Another stupidity was the continuation of the Macaulay system of education. These three blunders have resulted in the falling of many sectors to the control of Christians. Even the governance at present!

Christianised Media

The media has long since been Christianized in India. As courses like Journalism, Media Management, Electronics & Visual Communication and Mass Communication are available mostly in Christian institutions even Hindu students are intoxicated with an over-dosage of ‘secularism’ during their studies. They come out of college as ‘secularists’ and function to the detriment of Hindu interests.

Also, media houses in India are either Christian Institutions or Christian funded Institutions or Christian managed institutions or Institutions employing more Christians (minorities), leftists and the so-called secularists. No wonder these institutions work with a mission of de-Hinduise the nation!

Present status of media in India

At present we come across news, reports, columns, debates and programs ridiculing the Hindu faith, insulting Hindu religious traditions, demeaning Hindu cultural heritage and belittling Hindu customs and rituals, in print and electronic, mainstream as well as unconventional media. All this is focused on Hindu youth with an aim to confuse them and create disbelief and hatred in their minds about their own religion and culture.

The same condition seems to prevail in public broadcasters Akashvani and Doordarshan. Here also we can discern considerable influence of minorities and Marxists, as the secular government of the day panders to both.

Actually, the ruling Dravidian racists of Tamil Nadu first started to de-Hinduise the public broadcasters. They influenced the central government not to use the words ‘Akashvani’ and ‘Doordarshan’ and changed them to ‘Akila Inthiya Vaanoli’ (All India Radio) and ‘Chennai Tholaikkaatchi Nilaiyam’ (Chennai Television Centre) in the name of opposing the imposition of Hindi/Sanskrit. Now, Chennai Television Centre is called as “Podhigai” and it is being Christianised.

Christian ‘Podhigai’

Myriad evangelical programs are shown on Podhigai in different names. Evangelisation is going on blatantly in the name of ‘Happy Living’, ‘Success in Life’, ‘Progress in Life’ and ‘Personality Development’. Going by the names, readers could mistake them for Human Resources Development or Educational programs or personality enhancement programs. The conductors of these programs are not Professors or Intellectuals, but Pastors, Padires and Evangelists indulging in tele-harvesting.

Christian Missionary Organisations have captured most of the time slots of sponsorship programs. Our sources indicate that some of the Doordarshan staff help them take ‘prime time’ slots. It is understood that they convince the Director of the Kendra that the revenue will increase if the slots are offered to evangelical organizations. At a time when private channels charge huge amounts for sponsorship program slots, these evangelical organizations easily get slots in Doordarshan for paltry sums from Rs.2500/- to Rs.5000/, which helps them to harvest and reap more benefits at lesser investment.

Podhigai’s Christian preaching

Let us have a look at the number of evangelical programs going on in Podhigai:

5.30 am - Victory Today (Daily)

8.30 am - Santhoshamaai Vaazha (To Live Happily) – (Daily)

9.30 am - Vaarungal Munneralaam (Come Let us Progress) – (Mon, Wed and Fri)

9.00 pm - Needuzhi Vaazhga (Long Live) – (Daily)

10.30 pm - Vetriyum Vaazhvum (Victory and Life) – (Daily)

10.30 am on Sundays - Araadhanai Umakkey (Praise The Lord)

8.15 am on Saturday and Sunday - Varalaatril Vaazhvor (Heroes from History) - a program by famous Evangelist Joyce Meyers (also dubbed in Punjabi and Telugu and telecast in the respective kendras)

Also at 10.10 pm - Punithathai Nokkiye (Towards Holiness) - a recording of Sunday Mass.

The telecast timing in Podhigai is from 5.30 am to 11 pm and the programs shown between 11 pm and 5.30 am next day are re-telecasts.

Shocking termination of Vande Mataram

The most important and outrageous aspect in the entire issue of Christianisation of Chennai Doordarshan is the shocking termination of Vande Mataram. The mandatory playing of Vande Mataram at 5.30 am has been stopped to please the evangelists. The channel straight away starts with “Yesu Bhakti” instead of “Desh Bhakti”! It means Podhigai starts with the Blessings of Jesus and viewers must either wake up by hearing the word “Sinners” or wake up to the God who forgives sinners! The channel has indirectly made the viewers sinners.

As examinations are going on in schools at present, the channel starts with a program called “Kaanbom Karpom” (Look and Learn) at 5 am without playing Vande Mataram. Sharp at 5.30 the evangelist comes. All the Doordarshan Kendras across the country are supposed to start their telecast at 5.30 am by playing the National Song Vande Mataram and the Chennai Doordarshan is the only Kendra which has stopped playing it. Instead of Vande Mataram, it starts with Yesu Mantram. Unfortunately the people of Tamil Nadu have not realized it, for they have lost their Desh Bhakti in the vicious spell of Dravidian Maya.

Impact of Christian Podhigai

The impact of the Christianisation of Podhigai is undesirable and the consequences seem to be threatening the secular fabric of the nation and its integration. It indirectly gives the government’s stamp of approval for Christian preaching, which helps pastors and evangelists to cheat the gullible masses with that dubious stamp of approval.

Evangelists create an impression in the minds of the gullible masses as if the government authorizes the Christian way of living through their programs. The titles of these programs bear testimony for this fact.

Doordarshan’s reach and impact in rural areas is more than that of the private channels. It has gained the trust and confidence of rural people through programs such as warnings on cyclone, epidemic, weather forecasts, propagation of Family Planning and other government policies, advertisements on Health and Education and agricultural programs. As the people believe the government takes care of their welfare through Doordarshan, they easily fall prey to Christian preaching too. Evangelical organizations clearly exploit the people’s trust and confidence on Doordarshan to have a heavy harvest.

Evangelists and pastors have already started touring the villages and telling the people that Christianity is the only religion authorized and supported by the government and that they stand to gain the concessions offered by the government in various sectors apart from the money and other benefits given by Christian organizations. By this kind of an orchestrated campaign, the evangelists make a killing.

Money, mission and missionaries


Canadian Evangelist Dr. Ron Watts and his American wife Dorothy Watts, missionaries of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, came to India on tourist visa in the 1970s and established an evangelical empire in Hosur on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border and indulged in heavy conversion activities throughout South India. As their illegal activities got exposed over a period of time, the State Government ordered the Dharmapuri District Collector to deport them.

A deportation order against Dr. Ron Watts dated 05/09/2003 Letter No: 3608/A1/2003-1 was given by Smt R. Vasantha, B.A., Under Secretary to Government, Public (Foreigners) Department, Secretariat, Chennai-600 009, addressed to the Collector of Dharmapuri and received by the collector on 12 Sept, 2003. But by then, they made a heavy harvest in South India, especially later by utilizing the “Joshua Project 2000” conceived and sanctioned by the US government under George Bush.

Along with Maranatha Volunteers International, American organizations like Bible for the World, Common Global Ministries Board and United Church Board of World Ministries worked in coordination with Ron Watts. Organizations such as Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Konrad Adenauer Foundation and World Vision helped in grabbing lands and getting political support.

India based evangelists like Paul Dinakaran and Sadhu Chellappa and many others also get millions of dollars from countries like US, UK and Germany. The funds received per annum have gone up from Rs.1865 crores to Rs. 12990 crores within a period of 12 years, from 1993-94 to 2006-07. Foreign contributions have increased by more than 100% since UPA came to power.

Tamil Nadu, which was getting on an average of Rs.700 crores, started getting Rs.2000 crores since UPA came to power. Crores of rupees are being spent in each and every district of Tamil Nadu to plant crosses, build churches and harvest souls. As these are the official figures provided by the government, one can imagine the unofficial foreign money flowing into this country.
(Ref: http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/04-07/conversions.pdf and

http://www.vigilonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1073&Itemid=1

and http://www.mha.nic.in/fcra.htm). In such a scenario, Podhigai’s impact will be mind boggling, facilitating a heavy harvest for the evangelists.

Impact of private media

We are aware of the private media’s bias against Hindus and its attempts to de-Hinduise this nation. From a deep analysis of the media and its functioning, we can infer a fundamentally important issue.

In our country, the majority of colleges and educational institutions which run courses on Journalism, Visual Communications, Media Management and Mass Communication are Christian. Most teachers, lecturers and professors of these institutions are either Christians or Leftists. Even Hindu students studying in these institutions become ‘secularists’ over a period of time. Thousands of students who come out of these institutions join the print and electronic media houses across the country. The names of Editors, Columnists, Sub-Editors, Correspondents and important reporters show that more than 90% of them are minorities, leftists, secularists and rationalists. No wonder the output from these media houses is blatantly anti-Hindu!

If government broadcasters also join these private players, the outcome is anybody’s guess. On the one hand the private players spew Hindu hatred and on the other hand government players support preaching by minority communities, ultimately leading to de-Hinduisation and a heavy ‘harvest’.

Podhigai shamed and snubbed by evangelists

Although media houses vie with each other to denigrate Hinduism, they don’t shy away from brazenly using the Ithihasas and Puranas to produce and air serials for money and TRP rating. They shamelessly fall at the feet of Hindus by telecasting live the many festivals like Vaikunda Ekadasi, Shivratri, Krishna Jayanthi, and Temple consecrations, etc. When Podhigai wanted to telecast a Hindu festival live, it was insulted by an evangelical organization.

The channel wanted to show live telecast of the last Vaikunda Ekadasi festival event in Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple and Chennai Parthasarathy Swamy Temple simultaneously from early morning up to 6.30 am. Since the evangelical organization refused to adjust its timing for that particular day, Podhigai had to stop the live telecast abruptly at 5.30 am to facilitate airing of the evangelical program ‘Victory Today’.

Podhigai against Constitution

As per the Constitution, India is a secular country. As Akashvani and Doordarshan are public broadcasters, their bias towards a particular religion is violation of the Constitution. There is nothing wrong in telecasting religiously important festivals to showcase the culture and tradition of a community. India is known for its ancient and timeless civilisational ethos. The magnificent temples are symbols of our cultural heritage. They showcase our cultural magnificence through their architectural beauty and sculptural splendour.

Just because a 60-year-old Constitution says ‘India is secular’, it doesn’t lose its Hindu identity or Hinduness. The Constitution terms our nation as ‘secular’ only for the purpose of governance and administration and not for changing the cultural ethos. There cannot be a second opinion to the fact that India is a Hindu nation with a Hindu culture. Therefore, Doordarshan and Akashvani are duty bound to broadcast all important Hindu festivals which impart religious and cultural values to viewers and listeners.

Christianity and Islam are revealed religions, brought to India by alien people. They are not religions of this soil. Their culture and tradition are totally different and alien to us. In spite of that, it is legitimate to broadcast their important festivals as a part of secular administration, as a considerable number of Islamic and Christian converts are citizens of this land.

But festivals are one thing; preaching is different. What Podhigai does is deliberate preaching of Christianity, and besides, it allows such programs to insult the nation’s culture, tradition and Gods. In a secular country, public broadcasters indulging in preaching a particular minority religion and insulting the faith of the country’s majority community amounts to a clear violation of the Constitution.

Podhigai violates the law of the land



Both Akashvani and Doordarshan are supposed to follow the “Program Code”. (http://www.ddindia.gov.in/Business/Commercial+And+Sales/Code+for+Commercial+Advertisements.htm). By allowing evangelical programs, Podhigai has violated important sections of the Program Code. For example, it hurts religious sentiments and threatens National Integration by criticising Vigraha worship and addressing non-Christians as ‘sinners’ through the evangelical programs.

Podhigai has also violated the “Prasar Bharati (Indian Broadcasting Corporation) Act 1990” (http://www.ddindia.gov.in/Information/Acts+And+Guidelines). This Act clearly lays down norms for the functioning of public broadcasters like Akashvani and Doordarshan. Podhigai has violated some of them by allowing the evangelical programs.

Indifference shown by the department

As a journalist I shot off an e-mail to Ms. Aruna Sharma, Director General of Doordarshan, with copies to Ms. Ambika Soni, Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Dr. Jegathrakshagan, Minister of State, I&B, Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Mr. Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Saba, BJP President Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Senior BJP Leader Mr. L.K. Advani, Mr. B.S. Lalli, CEO Prasar Bharati, Mr. Ashok Jeilkhani, R. Venkateswarulu and Smt. Usha Bhasin (All Deputy Director Generals, Doordarshan). The letter dated 22 March 2010 gives complete details and requests the authorities to kindly investigate the serious matter and take appropriate action as per norms. I requested them to save Chennai Doordarshan from becoming a mouthpiece of Christianity and reinstate Vande Mataram, so that it remains patriotic. I requested an acknowledgement and assurance from the authorities that they would take immediate action. Till the time of writing this article, they had not responded.

It is understood that Minister of State for I & B Dr. Jegathrakshagan reprimanded the Chennai team in a meeting of senior officials in New Delhi for allowing so evangelical programs. He is believed to have asked, “When all denominations of Christianity have their own channels exclusively for evangelization and preaching, why do you allow them in Podhigai?” But he seems not to have taken any action to stop them either!

Conclusion

We cannot allow this indifferent attitude of the ministry and department to linger. If one channel functions without protest, the whole of Doordarshan and Akashvani would soon become official channels of Christianity. I urge readers to register their protests by sending mails to the concerned ministers and senior officials. Doordarshan must oblige.

[Some important E-Mail IDs:

Ms. Aruna Sharma, Director General, Doordarshan dgdd@doordarshan.gov.in

Ms. Ambika Soni, Minister, Information and Broadcasting mib.inb@gmail.com and mib.inb@sb.nic.in

Dr. S. Jagathrakshakan, Minister of state, Information and Broadcasting msib.inb@nic.in

Ashok Jailkhani Dep.Director Gen (Program) akjailkhani@yahoo.co.in

R. Venkateswarlu Dep.Director Gen (Program) rapurirvl@yahoo.co.in

Ms. Usha Bhasin Dir.General Gen (Program) dirdcd@yahoo.co.in

B.S. Lalli, CEO PB ceobci@yahoo.com]


Remember – “People’s power will always be respected”. Patriots always win!



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Hary Nambiar
20/04/2010 06:57:04 What Christians in India is practicing is fraud.i the name of God
Christianity is a superstition, which was built upon, magnified and spread through claims without offering evidence to support those claims. There are numerous holes in the fundamental tenets of Christianity. In the first place, no one knows the name of the individual who is being called Christ, the Messiah. No one ever heard of him until he appeared just a year before the execution. In Gospel according to Mark, his mother brought Jesus to the temple, where he was found discussing various things with temple priests and doctors there. However, there is no such mention in the Gospels according to Mathew, Luke or John. In one Gospel, it is mentioned that he taught for three years, but in other Gospels, he taught for one year. If thousands of people followed him wherever he went, it would not have been necessary for Judas to kiss him to let the High priests and soldiers to know his identity. There are no historic records of the life or execution of such a person. If he had healed hundreds of people from incurable illness, if he had taught thousands of people and thousands of people followed him everywhere he went, if he had fed thousands of people from less than half a dozen loafs of bread, there would have been a civil war in Jerusalem to stop his execution. In fact not a single person asked that he be released on Pass Over, instead, they yelled for the release of Barabaas. Christians claim that Barabaas was a thief and a murderer, but both Jews and Romans acknowledge that he was an insurgent and a popular Jewish hero who fought for the freedom of Israel from Rome. It is claimed that there was a total Solar Eclipse from the time of his execution until 3.00 PM and that there was a massive earthquake in Israel, but there is no record of it. 40 great scholar of that time lived in Israel during that time, but not one wrote about such an unusually important person. Three famous historians lived at that time, but none of them mentioned such a person. 5
Hary Nambiar
20/04/2010 06:55:46 -

Romans kept records of history, but failed to mention the life of Jesus Christ. There is a mention of a Christus in history but they have been criticized as forgery. Romans introduced the concept of justice and framed laws. The governor of the territory having interrogated an accused flogged him and declared him innocent and sending for crucifixion is an anomaly because it is required to be reported to the Emperor. There was no mention of such a report in Roman history. During the time of crucifixion, Tiberius Caesar was the Emperor of Rome. He was a just ruler for whom justice, law and order was of paramount importance. Crucifixion of an innocent man would have been unthinkable for Tiberius and every scholar. Resurrection is based on the testimony of one or two persons. Such a thing is biologically impossible and absurd. Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus as a “Man,” Gospel of Mathew portrays him as a “demigod” and Gospel of John portrays him as “God.” Early church fathers rejected almost every writings other than that of the four Apostles. St Paul who wrote the Epistles is said to have lived in Jerusalem during the life of Jesus Christ, but he never met him. None of the Gospels describes the catastrophes which took place in 70 CE, the destruction of the Jewish temple by the Romans. It could have been possible to argue that such a catastrophe was God’s way of punishing Jews for the crucifixion of his “Son.” One could argue that the Gospels were written before 70 CE, but all Church scholars agree that the Gospel of John was written in 90 CE, at which time he was almost 90 years old. Why he waited for so long? Why there is no mention of the destruction of the temple? Gospel according to John differs to a great extent to the other Gospels of Mark, even the parables mentioned are not identical.
Almost all Christian symbols, Christian practices and Christian teachings are borrowed from other religions which existed centuries before the introduction of Christianity.
5
Hary Nambiar
20/04/2010 06:52:30 -
Christian records until 8th Century do not claim of a virgin birth of Jesus. Cross has been a religious symbol in various ancient civilizations especially in India and Egypt. It is a symbol of Sun worship and there are so many varieties of it largely borrowed from the Aryan symbol of the swastika. It is not revered in other communities as sanctimoniously as the Mallu Christians do although it has gained popularity ever since Portuguese went to Malabar. Christian records show that St Thomas was sent to Parthia and he lived in an Indo Parthian kingdom that is in the region between Afghanistan and Iran. History also records that St Thomas was speared by soldiers as per orders of the King of that country for converting his wife, son and his sister-in-law. There are also records in the Christian and Parthian annuls that the relics of St Thomas was ceremoniously sent to Christian church authorities and buried in the West Asian town of Eddissa. It is noteworthy that Prophet Ibrahim is buried in Eddissa and there exists a Mosque to commemorate the significance of the place for the Semitic religions. Whose remains rest in the tomb in Mylapore, which was not populated 2000 years before? The Portuguese exhumed the tomb and had recorded their findings, but the Church authorities do not rely. Believe me, the Portuguese are the most fanatic Christians in the world.

The influence of Hindu, Jewish, Zoroastrian and Buddhists scriptures is evident in early Christian texts which were brutally suppressed and destroyed by the Church fathers. Those evidences could be easily discerned if one takes a look at the Gospel of Thomas and other records dubbed as Gnostic scriptures and found in Nag Hammadi Library, Alexandria and in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. The claim of “Love of Jesus” is a hoax. Christians are as much or more selfish as any other people. They talk about love, but have killed millions of people, much more than the Muslims did. Their aim is economic exploitation by territorial exp 5
Adithya
12/04/2010 04:52:04 E-mail IDs to send mail to
Pls also copy the following e-mail IDs in your protest e-mail
superddkch@yahoo.co.in & podhigainews@rediffmail.com 5
S Balasundar
10/04/2010 06:58:12 Sabash, Sonia! You are becoming stronger evangelist here!
SIR, I am not shocked or surprised at this news and the authentic ARTICULATION,by Thamilchelvan. First of all,kudos! During ,emergency persons against the Indira regime,and who are news-hungry,like this writer, used to tune to BBC,VOA,Radio Australia,for hearing about the development in our country. It was also the endeavour of press.like the Indian express and the statesman to leave the censored portions,or columns blank as a sequal to the Censors adamant attitude. Likewise, the AIR,(Akashvani),the national radio network,was popularly nicknamed as All INDIRA RADIO,for its subversion of the news report/broadcasting! All this was for focussing one person and the agenda,as it was evidently known to programm the praise for the dictator,madam.
Not long before than the Sitaram Kesari,the Treasurer and core Soniate who later captured the seat of Congress President,at the behest of this Italian born woman, virtually demanded then Cong. Party President P V Narasimha Rao,who was holding PMs post also, was asked to step down from the Party Presidentship, Sonia Rajiv Maino's black hands were seen by this nation's few political watchers!
A few intelligent commentators,like MV Kamath, saw the 'emergency' era was coming from behind!
A day is not far off of financial emergency clamped down AND THE KNOWN OPPOSITION IS SUPRESSED/ IMPRISONED BY THE CENTRAL MINISTRY AND THE LEAD IS TAKEN BY SOME CHARMING YOUNG MAN OR WOMAN ,HAVING THE STAMP OF INDIRA
NEHRU CLAN.! DOORDARSHAN CHANNELS WILL THEN BE TURNED TO HEAP FULL PRAISE OF THY LORD! 5
Satyaanveshi
09/04/2010 18:13:17 Why are favoring Xist institutions
Sir

What is preventing Hindus from starting in a large scale their own schools, colleges, universities, institutions so that our children are not brainwashed by the christists ? What happened to all philanthrophers. On the other hand, we find most of the schools opened, other than xists, are all there to mint money for their owners. The type of fee collected in these schools puts to shame the fee collected by higher institutions. 5
Karthik
09/04/2010 07:18:13 To Prasad
Sir..surprising!!! so it is a very recent change in the wikipedia site. I would appreciate the speed at which she contained some kind of online damage!!!however, as you said, we can see many discussions on her Christianity origin from various website. The issue, however, is whether Ms. Ambika Soni is a christian or not. It is about the policy that is being adopted by the ministry and it is attrocious when considering the head of the ministry is a practising christian... 5
Malini
09/04/2010 05:31:18 Patriots always win! (WILL NOT WIN)
How come, in India where 80% are human being, sub humans become ministers, MPs and MLAs? Christianity is equally poisonous while Islam cannot be called as a religion in the strict sense of the term, “Religion’. That is not the issue, we Hindus are in dogmatic slumber, every write up ends with statements such as, ‘truth will win’ ‘vendee mataram’ ‘only god can protect us or as we find in here, Remember – “People’s power will always be respected”. Patriots always win!” This is not going to work, fight and only through fight against evil, good will win. It is our bounden duty to fight and eradicate evil if we need to survive in the world. Evil grows faster than good, but evil, because it grows fast, think that it is good and that is why it grows. Hindus don’t need a philosophy, but practical action to eradicate evil in the world. No god is going to come from heaven to rescue us, if that is so, how come Muslim Terrorist are surviving and claiming that they will rule the world. We need to fight with devilish nature and rescue ourselves. How sad is that we still depending on a foreign lady to determine what we need. This Italian lady, sonia, is enough to destroy India. Awake.

5
Prasad Pandit
09/04/2010 04:04:38 chistianisation of tamil channels
Kartik, According to wikipedia in ambika soni's profile her religion is given as hindu. I have read in several sites that ambika is a practising christian. May be she is a crypto-christian. 5
Shahul,Muscat
08/04/2010 19:42:02 A Pill
Very bad and sympothise with Hindus of Tamil Nadu if this news item is correct. The one time pill suggested by USA to India to solve the rising Islamic fundamebtalism in India is a simple prescription- have at least 20% christians in this country to counter growing muslim assertion. Thereafter it will be push by pull by two minority communities!!hows it!!Doctor and Patient happily accepted the priscription. So get well soon!!. 5
Karthik
08/04/2010 19:06:54 Key Point that is missed out
Dear Sir,

You have raised a valid point. However a basic point is missed out. Are you aware that Ms. Ambika Soni, Minister of I&B is a Practising Catholic(any one who have doubts still may see wikipedia/ambika soni). There is no use even if we send 1 billion emails to such a devoted Christian as she must be doing her religious duty in preaching Christian devotional songs to the masses. Further, Sir, all kep positions of UPA is occupied by Christian religious leaders, whether it is Ambika Soni, Oscar Fernandes, Ajit Jogi, John Dayal, Jagdeesh Tytler etc so I do not think people of this country can get justice.

Regards,

Karthik 5
Ranganath
08/04/2010 17:57:30 christian doordarshan podhigai
Why doesn't anybody go to the Court, since clearly rules are being disobeyed here by the channel. In my view it's better to burn down such channel (without killing people) then let such violation of the rules continue. A clear message must be sent to the culprits and the manipulating Christians. If one thought that only Muslims were against Vande Mataram, this article proves that Christians too are against it. Don't give offenders the chance to keep going on with the offences, even if (state/central) government is protecting them. The 80% Hindus must stand up for their rights, even forcefully get them. No compromises here!!! 5