timesofindia.indiatimes.com

MUMBAI, INDIA, July 11, 2008: An estimated crowd of over a million people have walked together in the Waari — a holy pilgrimage in Maharashtra that is perhaps the world’s longest pilgrimage.

Waari is undertaken in the Hindu month of Ashadhi Ekadashi. Every year, devotees walk along the 280 mile route from Alandi (near Pune) to Pandarpur (near Kolhapur) in Western Maharashtra. They walk to reach Pandharpur and offer their respects to Lord Vithal (reincarnation of Vishnu in the form of Krishna). Remarkably, in over 700 years of Waari tradition, no stampede or chaos has ever taken place.

The waarkaris (pilgrims) are mainly agriculturists and the majority of them are poor. After travelling for almost 15-20 days, devotees reach Pandarpur to meet their favorite God, Krishna. This year Waari started on June 26 and ended on July 14th.

www.borehamwoodtimes.co.uk/news/localnews/3214642.Temple_man_quits_over_beating_scandal/

LONDON, ENGLAND, July 19, 2008: The president of a Hare Krishna temple in Letchmore Heath has been forced to resign after being found guilty of beating students in India. Gauri Das, president of Bhaktivedanta Manor, in Hilfield Lane, inflicted “inappropriate and excessive corporal punishment”, according to a report published this week. The abuse occurred during his time teaching at the Vrndavana Gurukula school between 1991 and 2001. Seventeen students and three adults have given statements against the temple leader.

Following the findings, Gauri Das has been banned from serving in a position of leadership or teaching in temples for the next three years. He has also been ordered to pay $3,000 to projects benefiting Hare Krishna children.

The first wave of allegations against Gauri Das was investigated in May 1995 by ISKCON (see it here). At the time, it acknowledged the beatings but said they were not “serious”. After the founding of the organization’s child protection branch, based in Florida, the investigation into Gauri Das was reopened in 2006, resulting in Monday’s report.

ISKCON has said Gauri Das must write a letter of apology to the abused students “clearly stating his actions and expressing remorse”. After all the requirements are met, he will be permitted to return to a position of leadership. A Bhaktivedanta Manor representative said: “We regret that Gauri Das will not be able to continue as an officer of our temple, but we also recognise the important need of the child protection office to acknowledge problems in the care of children in the past.”

www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, July 18, 2008: “We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet,” said former Vice-President Al Gore on Thursday. “Every bit of that’s got to change.”

In his speech at an energy conference in Washington, Mr. Gore cited military-intelligence studies warning of “dangerous national security implications” tied to climate change, including the possibility of “hundreds of millions of climate refugees” causing instability around the world, and said the United States is dangerously vulnerable because of its reliance on foreign oil.

Mr. Gore called for the kind of concerted national effort that enabled Americans to walk on the moon 39 years ago this month, just eight years after President John F. Kennedy famously embraced that goal. He said the goal of producing all of the nation’s electricity from “renewable energy and truly clean, carbon-free sources” within 10 years is not some farfetched vision, although he said it would require fundamental changes in political thinking and personal expectations.

“This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative,” Mr. Gore said in his remarks at the conference. He cited some scientists’ estimates that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth in 40 minutes to meet the world’s energy needs for a year, and that the winds that blow across the U.S. Midwest every day could meet the country’s daily electricity needs.

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What is the secret of the true life? To remain still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly awake while in meditation.
   Dada Sadhu Vaswani