A very interesting topic. Enjoyed reading Sachin's story.
“In order to make spiritual progress you must be patient like a tree and humble
like a blade of grass”
- Lakshmana
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:11:42 -0700From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL
PROTECTED]: [Assam] Reincarnation banned: Tibet's Buddisht lamas Re: HPI,
August 8, 2007Hindu Press International <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
August 8, 2007
Most Reincarnation Claims are True, Says Dr. S.K. Pasricha
China Tells Living Buddhas They Must Obtain Permission Before Reincarnating
Ganesha Goes Green for Khairatabad
Advertising's Disturbing Influence on Children's Food Choices
1. Most Reincarnation Claims are True, Says Dr. S.K. Pasricha
hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI, INDIA, August 5, 2007: Dr. Satwant K. Pasricha, a NIMHANS Professor
of Clinical Psychology and a leading national authority on reincarnations, has
been using rigorous scientific methods to investigate reincarnation claims
since 1974. Here are excerpts from an interview with Neha Tara Mehta: "It is
important to first understand what we mean by reincarnation. For the purpose of
our research, we use the term to refer to the concept that human beings consist
of two components: a physical body and a non-physical component, some call it
psyche, others may refer to it as mind, personality, or soul. At death, the
physical body perishes but the non-physical component survives and after an
interval, becomes associated with a new physical body. On the basis of meager
data that we have, we can't make generalizations about whether or not everyone
reincarnates. But what I can tell is that every one does not remember a
previous life. I have investigated nearly 500 reincarnation claims in India,
Seventy-seven per cent of them were authentic. Children who talk about previous
lives usually do so between the ages of 2 and 5 and stop talking about their
previous life between 5 and 8; rarely do they continue beyond 10 years of age.
They display corresponding behavior that is unusual for their present
circumstances but is appropriate for the behavior of the deceased person whose
life they claim to remember. Some children have facial features, gait or
mannerisms corresponding to their claimed previous personalities; some even
have birthmarks or birth defects attributed to the previous lives."One such
reincarnation story is of a young boy named Sachin. Every time Sachin tried to
tell the adults in his village that he was in fact Kanti, a domestic servant
from the nearby Dhanaura village whose master had murdered him, the villagers
would laugh. His family also thought the child's imagination was runnin g wild.
"We thought it was a game of make-belief," says his elder sister Poonam. But
Sachin, a Class III student at the village primary school, seldom spoke,
behaved or conducted himself like the 12-year-old he was. "He was always so
grownup, talking about development and other social issues," says Imran,
Sachin's playmate. The boy soon earned the title of 'Netaji'. To read Sachi's
story, click here.
2. China Tells Living Buddhas They Must Obtain Permission Before Reincarnating
www.timesonline.co.uk
BEIJING, CHINA, August 4, 2007: Tibet's living Buddhas have been banned from
reincarnation without permission from China's atheist leaders. The ban is
included in new rules intended to assert Beijing's authority over Tibet's
restive and deeply Buddhist people. "The so-called reincarnated living Buddha
without government approval is illegal and invalid," according to the order,
which comes into effect on September 1. The 14-part regulation issued by the
State Administration for Religious Affairs is aimed at limiting the influence
of Tibet's exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, and at preventing the
re-incarnation of the 72-year-old monk without approval from Beijing. It is the
latest in a series of measures by the Communist authorities to tighten their
grip over Tibet. Reincarnate lamas, known as tulkus, often lead religious
communities and oversee the training of monks, giving them enormous influence
over religious life in the Himalayan region. Anyone outside China is banned
from taking part in the process of seeking and recognizing a living Buddha,
effectively excluding the Dalai Lama, who traditionally can play an important
role in giving recognition to candidate reincarnates.For the first time China
has given the Government the power to ensure that no new living Buddha can be
identified, sounding a possible death knell to a mystical system that dates
back at least as far as the 12th century. China already insists that only the
Government can approve the appointments of Tibet's two most important monks,
the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. The Dalai Lama's announcement in May 1995
that a search inside Tibet -- and with the cooperation of a prominent abbot --
had identified the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, who died in 1989,
enraged Beijing. That prompted the Communist authorities to restart the search
and to send a senior Politburo member to Lhasa to oversee the final choice.
This resulted in top Communist officials presiding over a ceremony at the main
Jokhang temple in Lhasa in which names of three boys inscribed on ivory sticks
were placed inside a golden urn and a lot was then drawn to find the true
reincarnation. The boy chosen by the Dalai Lama has disappeared. The abbot who
worked with the Dalai Lama was jailed and has since vanished. Several sets of
rules on seeking out "soul boys" were promulgated in 1995, but were effectively
in abeyance and hundreds of living Buddhas are now believed to live inside and
outside China.
3. Ganesha Goes Green for Khairatabad
www.hindu.com
HYDERABAD, INDIA, August 5, 2007: The Khairatabad Ganesha this year is all set
to blaze a new trail going in for an eco-friendly makeover. The district
administration that has been campaigning for a shift to eco-friendly natural
dyes for the Murthis, hopes that more Murthi makers and festival organizers
would follow suit. "We have yielded to the Government's request for use of
eco-friendly colors," says S. Sudarshan, chief organizer of Khairatabad Ganesh
Utsav Committee. Whether clad in natural Indigo, dark green, maroon or
chocolate, the 40-foot giant Deity however cannot do without that matt finish
in its fashion statement. The Chirla-based Shyamal Handlooms involved in
Kalamkari work for a decade was approached by N. G. Ranga Agricultural
University for developing eco-friendly colors. It took them four months of
research to come out with required hues. They would supply as many as nine
colors for the Deity."Sixty liters of colors will be needed to paint the whole
statue. We have already sent samples of a liter each," said U. Venkateshwar Rao
from Shyamal Handlooms that is ready to supply eco-friendly colors to other
manufacturers and artisans. Hyderabad District Collector R. V. Chandravadan
commended the big step taken by the Utsav Committee on Saturday while speaking
at an awareness workshop attended by artisans, resident welfare associations,
committee members and officials of Pollution Control Board and National Green
Corps.
4. Advertising's Disturbing Influence on Children's Food Choices
www.news-medical.net
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA, August 7, 2007: A study with pre-school
children has revealed just how potent and effective the power of advertising
is. In what many parents will find very depressing news, new research has
revealed that as far as tots are concerned food wrapped in McDonald's packaging
tastes up to six times better than the same food in plain wrappers. The study
by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, in California, was
designed in order to gauge the power of advertising on young children. It comes
at an opportune moment as there is widespread concern over the growing obesity
rates in children and the influence of advertising on children's health. In the
developed world child obesity rates have trebled over the last two decades and
currently 10 per cent of six-year-olds and 17 per cent of 15-year-olds are
estimated to be obese. Experts say that by 2050, half of all primary school-age
boys and a fifth of all girls could be so overweight that their health is at
serious risk. A total of 63 children completed the study and performed a total
of 304 individual tasting comparisons. The researchers led by Dr. Thomas N.
Robinson, found that children as young as three found food nicer when they
thought it was made by a big brand and this preference was not merely
restricted to fast foods; the youngsters found that milk and carrots tastier
better when they believed they had been bought at McDonald's. For the study,
the researchers asked children aged between three and five to rate five foods
for tastiness; each child was given two samples of identical food, one in
McDonald's packaging and one in plain wrapping. The researchers say the
children found the McDonald's wrapped food was judged as far more appealing but
when the children were not influenced by branding, they found both samples
equally tasty. McDonald's fries were judged tastiest by six times as many
children as the same fires in plain packaged wrappers and the same applied to
chicken nuggets. It seems even milk and carrots, foods not as a rule associated
with McDonald's, were rated as more appealing when packaged with the fast
food's logo. McDonald's says it actively tries to promote healthy food to
children. The food and beverage industries spend more than $10 billion each
year on marketing aimed at children in the United States and by age 2, many
already have beliefs about certain brands; 2- to -6-year-olds are able to
recognize brands and associate them with products. The study is published in
the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
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Man's freedom is not in being saved troubles, but is the freedom to take
trouble for his own good, and make the trouble an element in his joy.
Rabindranath Tagore
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Subscribe | Unsubscribe | List MasterUmesh SharmaWashington D.C. 1-202-215-4328
[Cell]Ed.M. - International Education PolicyHarvard Graduate School of
Education,Harvard University,Class of
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(Management Info)www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used
)http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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