And The World Remained Silent.....

Why do the secularists and the Human Rights bodies close their eyes on such issues? Why this elective blindness. A story of those who are refugees in their own nation....Shame on us and our silence.

The Video the Meat Industry Doesn't Want You To......

...See. This video shows how animals are treated in the meat factories (called factories because animals are viewed as meat producing machines).
Note: The video as you would expect is gory and violent. Watch at your own discretion.


Find out more at Meat.org.

Let us remember that no amount of lip sympathy or theoretical agreement will help if we do not practice what we believe.

Look at Your Plate First If You....

...bother about violence. Below is an article by Ramdas Lamb, a professor at the University of Hawaii. If you are one of those puzzled, worried and angry about the violence in any form be it terrorism or others, this gives us a solution which we can implement instantly but needs our honest efforts:

In the U.S. alone, we are responsible for the torture and slaughter of more than 25 million animals EVERY SINGLE DAY. While many may be astounded by the numbers and not believe them, others will simply say, "So what?" "Why should we care?" "They are only animals?" The reasons to care are many, and I will try to address a few.

Most followers of the Abrahamic religious traditions do not believe that animals have souls. These religious traditions, as well as most cultures, promote the belief that animals are simply here for human benefit. Their followers have been taught and like to believe that humans are the superior species on earth, and all of nature is simply for our use. We can pretty much do what we want with animals: own them, play with them, kill them, eat them, wear their body parts, destroy their homes and environment, etc. This would not be as easy to do if people actually stopped to consider if animals have souls.

Actually, when most Americans eat meat, they don't stop to think about its source, how the animal whose body parts they are consuming was raised, treated, and killed. They don't stop to think if animals have souls. Meat eaters who otherwise care about the consequences of their actions or who argue for the rights of minorities or oppressed groups tend to create a psychological distance between what they eat and the fact that it came from the body of an animal that was imprisoned most or all of its life, usually suffered tortuous treatment, and was then killed, all to satisfy human taste buds and an addiction to flesh consumption. Meat is just food.

Those who want a more peaceful and non-violent world or who support the rights of the oppressed should consider visiting a slaughterhouse for a day. Many people have been fooled by the meat industry into thinking they must consume flesh in order to survive or that vegetarians cannot be healthy. However, there is increasing medical evidence that not only is meat eating unnecessary for health, but that it actually causes many of the health problems Americans faces, especially diseases like heart attacks, obesity, cancer, etc.

Not only have many sick people turned to vegetarianism for a cure but a significant number of professional athletes have become vegetarian because they find that it helps them to become stronger in a more healthy way. There have been and continue to be many more athletes who are vegetarian, as well as millions of regular people all over the world, especially in India.

The indigenous religions of India (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism) promote a kinship with all life forms that is unique among the world's major religions. Although not all their adherents follow it, these traditions as a whole take non-violence seriously, and one of the central reasons that most do is the belief that animals have souls. Clearly, when it comes to the treatment of animals, these religions stand out and lead the way.

Many of us come to the realization that animals are conscious beings, with desires and fears, aspirations and frustrations. They experience happiness and sadness, comfort and pain. We see this in the pets who live with us and we would be extremely pained if anyone even thought about treating them the way millions of animals are treated every day in America. Yet, most of us pretend that all the other animals we don't know personally are somehow different. Their lives don't really matter, the torture they experience does not really matter, their slaughter does not really matter. I understand and acknowledge that in some climates and places, meat eating, or at least fishing, is necessary for survival, but these places are in the minority, and America is not one of them (except maybe in portions of Alaska).

I realize that the views I have expressed will likely upset some. I do so with the hope of inspiring a bit more awareness about the non-human beings and other forms of life that are such beautiful and important parts of the natural world. Vegetarianism is great for health, and that is why I first became a vegetarian. However, I remain a vegetarian for ethical reasons. Meat eating and the resulting wholesale slaughter of animals causes more destruction to our environment, our health, and our relationships with the world than any other single cause. More than that, it promotes a careless attitude toward life and a mind set that makes violence more acceptable. I have countless friends and family members who are not vegetarian, and this does not prevent me from having deep respect for many of them. At the same time, I do feel a great sense of sadness for all the suffering that is caused by meat eaters' food choices. For all those people who consider themselves to be pro-peace or pro-life and who are bothered by all the violence in the world, I would only ask them to look at their dinner plate and reflect for a moment on how much hard work fighting injustice and violence will be offset by the torture, suffering, and rights abuses that occur simply so they can consume a piece of meat.

PS:It does require a great amount of patience to read through the whole of a seemingly uncomfortable topic. If you do not agree with the above, post your comments and if we do agree, it is clearly not enough. Do we have the will to execute what we agree? No amount of lip sympathy or theoretical agreement will help if we do not practice them. Even if not immediately, can we slowly reduce our consumption? We are totally free to act. More on the same soon....

Source: Washington Post

900 Yogasanas to be Patented (Protected) by India

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has prepared patent formats of nearly 900 yoga asanas (postures), to prevent European and American companies involved in fitness-related activities from claiming them as their own.

These asanas will all be included in the digitalised Traditional Knowledge Library (TKDL), set up by the council to collect and record traditional treatment therapy knowledge. Medicines and yoga asanas registered with it enjoy the status of being patented.

"Video recordings of the asanas are also being made and recorded to prevent them from being stolen," said TKDL director Dr VK Gupta.

The CSIR began the project in 2006. These 900 asanas have been collected from Patanjali's classic work on yoga, as well as other ancient classics like the Bhagwat Gita.

Gupta said a number of countries had already laid claim to around 250 of these postures. Some foreign companies have even patented some of them. Foreign companies have been selling some of the yoga postures as therapies to relieve stress or backaches.

"How can someone else patent these asanas which are a part of our traditional treatment therapy knowledge? They should not be allowed to use them for commercial purposes," Dr Gupta said.

The CSIR's next step will be to move against the yoga patents already registered abroad. The United States patent office alone has issued around 3000 patents on yoga postures and their variations.

Source: Hindustan Times