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In the News: Krishna Carnival Lights Up London by bbc.co.uk Posted June 24, 2008
The Londoners are used to seeing juggernaughts rumbling through their streets, but this was a very different kind of heavy traffic. It was a riot of colour in the heart of the capital - three 40-foot-high wooden chariots pulled from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, accompanied by a colourful crowd singing, chanting and dancing their way along the route.
Britain's Hare Krishnas were holding their 40th annual Rathayatra Carnival of Chariots, a street festival which brings together a mixture of devotees and bemused onlookers.
The 5,000-year-old ceremony was first staged at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Orissa - giving British colonial forces a new word to describe a huge, lumbering vehicle. 'Everyone's happy' The UK Hare Krishna movement hopes the day brings a touch of fun and celebration to London's thoroughfares.
But organiser Varsana Devi Dasi said the worshippers who used ropes to pull the three chariots - one each for the deities of Jagannatha, Subhadra, and Balarama - did not face an easy task.
"It's quite an effort to pull them - the chariots are huge," he added. "The wheels are made by the same wheelsmiths who make the Queen's carriages. "But everyone's happy to help out - it's a lot of fun and you always end up having a good time." When the procession reached its destination at Trafalgar Square, organisers had laid on entertainment, face-painting, information about Indian culture and enough vegetarian food for 35,000. Praghosa Das, leader of the UK's Hare Krishnas, said he hoped passers-by would have their days brightened up by the carnival. The stocky 47-year-old Dubliner - born Paul Murphy - first became interested in the movement when he landed a job working in a Hare Krishna-run vegetarian restaurant in 1980. Bhuta Bhavana Das became interested in eastern philosophy at university "I'm glad the sun's shining today. It's meant to be a celebration and we just want everyone to have a good time", he said. "Our founder, Srila Prabhupada said our way of life is simply 'chanting, dancing and feasting', and that's what we're giving everyone here today." Other converts to the faith said they enjoyed the festival's openness and inclusiveness. Bhuta Bhavana Das, a 32-year-old youth worker, became interested in the movement while he was studying philosophy at the London School of Economics. "The great thing about today is that you have loads of Christians, Muslims, people of all faiths and none. "The whole point of Hare Krishna is that there are many different paths to enlightenment - it's not about saying, 'My God is better than your God.'"
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7468185.stm
ISKCON devotees have offered condolences on the departure of noted scholar and teacher Raj Kumar Shitaljit Singh. Born on August 18, 1913, he died at 95 at his residence at Keishampat Top Leirak on June 8, 2008. Shitaljit had received many awards including the President's Medal for teaching (1967), the Thoibi Devi Award for literature (from Manipuri Sahitya Parishad, 1999) and the Writer of the Year award (from Naharol Sahitya Premi Samiti, 2000). He received the Manipur Journalist Award in 1995 and was offered a fellowship by Manipur State Kala Akademi in the same year. Among the books he translated from Bengali are the Gita Govinda and Padavali gi Shayan Shaikhan. At a condolence meeting at the Sri Sri Radha Krishnachandra Manimandir in Imphal, devotees recalled his longtime association with ISKCON and his contributions to its Manipur mission. H.H. Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami, considering Shitaljit's scholarship in Sanskrit and in Vaishnava texts, had entrusted him with the translation into Manipuri of the Srimad Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad-gita. Shitaljit had strong feelings about Vaishnavism and stated at a Doordarshan television interview that mundane books were useless if they had no relation to Krishna. Many Manipuris, whom he had inspired to follow the right path, considered him a spiritual guru. He was also a strict educationist and introduced chandan tilak for schoolchildren at Ram Lal Paul School in Imphal, where he was principal. Even on his deathbed he asked a devotee who was present in his bedroom why he had not put on his tilak properly, the devotees said. He was appreciative of ISKCON devotees for being able to follow the Vaishnava principles openly. He was humorous, deep-thinking and spoke only about topics of God.
Original Story
There's not much traffic on First Avenue in lower Manhattan at 5:15 a.m., but in the building between a darkened tattoo shop and electronic store, a light shines bright from the second floor. Inside is the New York City headquarters of a Hare Krishna group. A visitor is greeted with a blast of sights and sounds: Thirteen men and one woman are twirling and dancing, playing cymbals and drums and chanting tunes. Hare Krishna monks are in orange or white robes. Civilians are in business suits or jeans. They all face an altar adorned with flowers and statues of the Supreme God, Krishna, and His female counterpart, Radha. A little over an hour later, a 35-year-old monk named Gadadhara Pandit das blows into a conchshell and pours a water offering. This marks the halfway point in this three-hour morning worship service, a daily celebration. "I just can't think of a better way to start the day," he says, grinning. "It's such a devotional activity, so deeply moving for the soul, that the rest of your day is much more clear, because you've nourished the mind and soul from the morning." Pandit - whose name means "saint" — sits cross-legged on the hardwood floor of this urban temple. He begins to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. He explains that repeating the names for Krishna is a spiritual event of sorts, allowing God to enter his soul. "Our focus is on the sound vibration itself, because we know that sound is an incredibly powerful tool," he later explains. "It can cause avalanches, and sound, through music, can move our emotions in all different directions. The same with spiritual sound. When I'm calling out to Krishna, saying the Hare Krishna mantra — Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare — Krishna is actually present there."
You can read the rest of this story, view an audio slide show or listen to an audio version at National Public Radio's website. Many thanks to Chakra reader Karunamayi dasi, for sharing NPR's nice story on a a day in a devotee's life with us. The focused, thorough and sympathetic article includes interviews with congregants and is accompanied by sidebars on Krishna consciousness philosophy and a few Hare Krishna recipes (samosas, eggplant stew, vegetarian chili and pakoras).
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In the News: Sweet Savouries in Jaynagar by Deepa Natarajan , Deccan Herald Posted July 1, 2008 National award-winning actress Tara and fashion designer Prasad Bidapa inaugurated ISKCON's exclusive Krishna Prasadam Temple-outlet in Jayanagar. A massive cake in hues of pink and orange reading 'The Higher Taste' welcomed the visitors as ISKCON Bangalore opened its first outlet in Jayanagar on Friday. National award-winning actress Tara and fashion designer Prasad Bidapa inaugurated this exclusive Krishna Prasadam Temple-outlet. The event was also graced by social worker and chairperson of Infosys Foundation Sudha Murthy. The outlet has a range of sweets, cakes, savouries and organic spices and condiments developed by the ISKCON food lab. All these contain no eggs, onion and garlic. Actress Tara who referred to the outlet as Krishna's Mithai Mane said, "I have been associated with ISKCON much before I stepped into the film industry.'' One glance at the array of sweets and savouries gave Prasad Bidapa a new idea. "The Indian sweets are so beautiful and colourful. They have inspired me to come out with a clothing line based on them." He added jokingly, "Some of the desserts are sugar-free and highly suitable for mortals like us." Sudha Murthy, who has had a long association with ISKCON due to the mid-day meal scheme was seen chatting light- heartedly with Tara, Bidapa and ISKCON's vice-president Chanchalapathy Das. "I am very happy to see a wide variety of vegetarian food here. They even have a range of organic food items like chilli powder, jaggery and black pepper. So I will be coming here to shop very often," she smiled. Added Das, "We wanted Krishna's prasadam to be available in South Bangalore."
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Despite recent tweaking of the draft Religion Law due to be presented to parliament on June 11 by its lower-house Working Group, the text contains many violations of international human rights commitments. "They put many distracting points in the draft to take away our attention from the real pitfalls," Aleksandr Klyushev of the Association of Religious Organisations complained to Forum 18 News Service. "We need to do everything in our power to stop this law from being adopted." Penalties for unregistered religious activity will be stepped up, and 50 adult citizen members will be required to register local religious communities. Local religious groups will not have the right to engage in educational, publishing or missionary activity. Kamal Burkhanov, who leads the Working Group, defended the restrictions on sharing one's faith in public. Asked about the ban on religious "propaganda" in public places, Burkhanov said there was no need to propagate religion in public transport, for instance. "Do people go to the toilet on a bus?" he asked. "No, they go to a toilet. Therefore whoever needs to meet their religious needs should go to a synagogue, mosque or a church." He showed no sympathy for those - like the Council of Churches Baptists - who are fined for unregistered religious activity. "They should not violate the law." Kamal Burkhanov, the deputy of the Majilis (Lower House of Parliament) who leads the working group preparing the text of the controversial draft Religion Law, confirmed that the text is due to be presented formally to parliament. He said the first reading could begin immediately, although this will be decided by the parliamentary authorities. He dismissed any concerns about restrictive provisions in the draft Law. Critics of the draft Law have told Forum 18 that recent tweaking of the text may have removed some of the most outrageous provisions, but it has done little to remove the violations of international human rights commitments. Burkhanov insisted that the parliamentary process would allow plenty of time for debate. "The draft law has to go through three readings in the Majilis and only then it will go to the Senate [the Upper Chamber of Parliament]," he told Forum 18. "The Senate will then discuss it for another six months before adopting it. This means there's still chances to correct things on the way." Earlier versions of the draft Law were fiercely criticised by many religious communities — including Lutheran, Baptist, Hare Krishna and other representatives — as well as by legal specialists and human rights activists (see Forum 18 News, 6 May 2008). A Working Group draft from 2 June removes or softens some of the provisions that clearly violate Kazakhstan's international human rights commitments, but many violations of these commitments remain. All unregistered religious activity will remain banned and subject to punishment, while missionary, educational and publishing rights will be restricted. Territorial restrictions on the activity of religious organisations will, for example, strip two of the country's four Catholic dioceses of the possibility of registering as "centralised religious organisations", which have the exclusive right to conduct religious education and publishing. Article 7 of the draft Law would require centralised religious organisations to have existed for ten years and to function in at least five of Kazakhstan's 16 regions. Catholic officials told Forum 18 that their diocese of Karaganda functions in only two regions (Karaganda and East Kazakhstan), while the Apostolic Administration of Atyrau functions in only four regions (Aktobe, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan and Mangistau). Besides, the current jurisdictions were only established in July 1999, so have not existed for ten years. Forum 18 notes that Article 7 has been tweaked since the previous version to prevent the three Russian Orthodox dioceses in Kazakhstan becoming illegal and depriving the Russian Orthodox Church of the right to conduct educational and publishing activity. One of the three dioceses works in six regions and the other two in five each. In the wake of the widespread criticism, on 16 May Kazakhstan's government sent an official request to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to conduct a legal review of the draft. The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe — Kazakhstan has observer status with the Venice Commission — confirmed from Strasbourg that although no official request was made to it, it too had been sent the text and was participating in the review. Burkhanov said the OSCE's review has not yet been received, but he claimed that if it criticises any provisions these criticisms would be taken into account. The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw told Forum 18 on 10 June that the review of the draft law requested by the Kazakhstani authorities is now complete and is about to be provided to the government. As usual with such reviews, the government will be given the chance to study it before the text of the review is made public, it said. Opponents of the draft Law have not given up. Aleksandr Klyushev, the head of the Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan (AROK), who also participated in the sessions of the Working Group which drew up the draft Law, expressed his total dissatisfaction with it. "If the new law is adopted it will seriously curtail the activities of existing religious organisations and largely cut down the number of them," he told Forum 18 on 4 June from Almaty. "We need to do everything in our power to stop this law from being adopted." Klyushev said a petition had been sent to President Nursultan Nazarbaev, as well as letters to human rights organisations asking them to put pressure on Parliament not to adopt "this anti-freedom law". Klyushev described the law-makers in the Working Group as "sneaky". "They put many distracting points in the draft to take away our attention from the real pitfalls," he complained to Forum 18. "All those ridiculous points — such as a requirement for cash register machines and 5,000 members for registration — were 'the big things' many of us were concentrating on. All those points were put there just so we would think when the Working Group deleted them from the draft we had won." He believes that the purpose was that religious organisations and human rights advocates would be "euphoric" at their removal and would not pay attention to the smallest details that would cause big practical changes. The Baptist Council of Churches — which has a network of congregations across Kazakhstan that refuse on principle to register — had called its members to hold a day of prayer and fasting throughout Central Asia on 6 June. They expressed concern about "increasing persecution of believers in Kazakhstan and the intention of the government to adopt an even harsher Law". The new law intends to divide religious entities to two categories, Klyushev complained. Those that have 50 and more members will be classified as "religious communities" if registered. Others with less than 50 members will remain as "religious groups". "The number of adult citizen members for religious organisations required to be registered as a legal entity was fixed at 50," said Klyushev. "It may look like a little victory since the Working Group lowered the number from the proposed 5,000 to 50. But it is actually a deception. In reality they raised the number from 10 to 50 compare to the current law." Individuals would not be able to be involved in any religious activity - such as teaching others one's beliefs, converting others to one's faith, and so forth — if they are not part of a group, which has more than 50 members and is registered as a legal entity, Klyushev told Forum 18. Groups with fewer than 50 members will not be entitled to have private property or rent public places for religious activity. "This effectively means that all those numerous small groups, which will not be able to get the signatures of at least 50 people, will be forced to exist illegally or even worse to dissolve," Klyushev said. They will also be forced to give up whatever property they have, including buildings, materials and books. Even registered organisations will find it difficult to do missionary work, Klyushev noted. Based on the draft law, for instance, sharing religious beliefs in public places will be illegal without the consent of the citizens. "If you are in a park and want to share your faith with others, then you have to run around the whole park, and get the consent of the public, I guess," said Klyushev. "It's impossible and ridiculous." Punishments for violations of the new law will be more severe, Klyushev complained. The Code of Administrative Violations established punishments for religious organisations violating the Law, with fines or six-month suspensions of activity. Compared to the earlier version of the draft, the Working Group took away the option of a fine without suspension. "This means if caught for a violation then you will definitely get punished," he said. Also the sizes of fines have significantly increased. For those — like the Council of Churches Baptists — who repeatedly refuse to register, fines will range from 200 to 500 times the minimum monthly salary, Klyushev reported. All organisations, including registered ones, will have to re-register within 18 months of the new law coming into effect. "Why should organisations already registered, which have existed for a number of years, go through the same hassle of registering again and again?" asked Klyushev. "Many organisations will stumble into the same problem of not having a legal address to register, since they must own a building, which some don't." Religious communities will also be deprived of their rights to run social funds and unite around religious associations such as AROK, complained Klyushev. "This will mean that religious organisations will not be able to effectively campaign for their rights. It will also mean people like me as part of AROK will have to stop their activity." Ninel Fokina, who heads the Almaty Helsinki Committee, also complained that based on the Article 6-1.10 of the draft law, the State Religious Affairs Committee's competences will be broadened. Fokina told Forum 18 on 5 June that if the new law is adopted, the Committee will assume the role of the Public Prosecutor to initiate administrative cases against violators. The Committee will also be authorised to liquidate organisations which could not register or re-register within the 18 months after the law comes into effect. "We think this is the State directly interfering in Religion," Fokina complained, "and it is anti-constitutional." The State Committee by definition is supposed to help religious organisations to enjoy their rights but we are now talking about the Committee prosecuting organisations, she insisted. "It's absurd." Fokina warned that administrative penalties for religious violations will become more severe. She said that at the instigation of parliamentary deputy Serik Temirbulatov, law-makers are even looking into changing Article 336 of the Criminal Code to be able to bring criminal lawsuits against religious organisations and their members. This article envisages criminal penalties for public organisations which impede the work of state agencies. "Imagine the police come to a community during their prayer or other religious meeting wanting to do a check-up and the community does not allow them to," Fokina said. "Then, I guess, the community will be liable for impeding the work of the police." She said this contradicts Article 5.2 of Kazakhstan's Constitution, which has excluded religious organisations from this responsibility on the principle of separation of State and Religion. Burkhanov, the Working Group head, dismisses all these concerns. Asked whether religious groups would be able to carry on meeting in private houses to study their religious literature or share their faith with others, Burkhanov responded; "Why not?" But when Forum 18 pointed out that the draft law clearly specifies that religious groups are only allowed to share their faith with those within their group, he responded: "Why should they want to share their faith with Muslims, for instance? They think only they are smart and the Muslims are stupid. Do not worry, religious groups will be able to meet and pray to their God as much as they want." Burkhanov told Forum 18 that once registered, religious communities would not need to unite in associations. He brushed aside suggestions that this might help them more effectively defend their rights. "Kazakhstan has a very good laws and court system," he told Forum 18. "You just need to find the right lawyer. Our courts make decisions based on the law, not on which organisation appeals." Burkhanov showed no sympathy for those who receive severe punishments and huge fines to punish them for peaceful religious activity especially for repeat "violations" — which would take years for an average Kazakh citizen to pay — as in the case of the unregistered Baptists. "They should not violate the law," he declared. "Every state has laws and its citizens are supposed to obey those laws." When Forum 18 pointed out that practicing one's faith was much simpler and easier in many democratic countries, and some did not even have a Religion Law, Burkhanov said those countries were not a standard for Kazakhstan. "Every country has its own sovereignty, and no one can dictate to us what our laws should look like." Klyushev, of the Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan complained to Forum 18 that since the second half of the last year the mass media in the country has whipped up a campaign against religious organisations with the purpose of influencing law-makers to call for a new Religion Law that would restrict freedoms given to "dangerous religious sects". One Astana-based newspaper, Tselina, of 16 April, was among several newspapers that have listed peaceful religious communities like New Life, Grace Protestant Church, Baptist churches, Jehovah's Witnesses and AROK as prohibited terrorist organisations. "All of this has influenced lawmakers and now we are about to witness one of the most restrictive laws ever being adopted," Klyushev said.
Klyushev said that in discussion, many Protestant Churches had also expressed their utter dissatisfaction with the activity of the Working Group and the draft Law. "Protestants tell me that even the Roman Empire feeding Christians to the lions could not stop their faith," he told Forum 18. "Now Kazakh law-makers think that by putting a new Law in place they will be able to force us to stop believing."
Francis-Mangalore, Mangalore -U.A.E Saturday, May 31, 2008
I am very happy that MRPL is taking such kind of initiative in around the Company. MRPL being one of the growing company in mangalore and with its intrest growing in all spheres of expansion ,its the duty of company to bring socially benificial programs to implement not only in Katipala and surathkal but to other rural and urban areas. MRPL land acquired displaced many mangaloreans and there are well educated, even graduate chemical engineers in Mangalore / surathkal area hunting for jobs.
But the process and recruitment and appointmnet are not favouring local lads. Its should be noted that MRPL should give youngster of region job and oppurtunity to serve company .So that youngster can stay in mangalore and support thier parents rather than move out of mangalore in job hunting. Please consider this or form an organisation to recive CV of local people and recommend strongly to higher Management of MRPL or any company in future to recruit mangaloreans.
Jagdish.P.Thakur, Pethri/Udupi/Toronto Saturday, May 31, 2008 Hare Krishna, The Iskcon and MRPL coming together for a noble cause is really appreciable.Iskcon runs Food for Life programme at most centres all over the world.However it was from internal accruals all these time & donation's from individuals.I think this is the first time a corporate group has lend a helping hand for a noble cause. I wish many more corporate groups come ahead in continuing a moment like this. So that this nutritious mid day meal reaches each & every child of our country and takes them to the right path of serving mankind with a humane nature.
Article in daijiworld.com
Since the prison is over an hour away, the prasad meals would be kept frozen and picked up on a bi-weekly basis for distribution. The state is mandated to provide prisoners with meals according to their religious beliefs such as kosher and halal meals, so why not prasad? This may be the first in a series of sanctified meals demanded by Krishna devotees imprisoned all over the country who are concerned about their upliftment and purification. Undoubtedly this would be very pleasing to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
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