Hundreds flock to Nepal shrine for "sweating" idol - Yahoo! News

Hundreds flock to Nepal shrine for "sweating" idol - Yahoo! News: "Hundreds flock to Nepal shrine for 'sweating' idol "
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Hundreds of people have flocked to a remote village in eastern Nepal to see a "sweating" idol of a Hindu god, a sign of impending turmoil or natural disaster for the devoutly religious nation.
Witnesses said that sweat seeped out of the idol of the Bhimeshwor god at a temple in Dolakha, a few hours drive from Kathmandu, during evening prayers at the weekend.
"I saw the right side of the black stone idol had become wet because of sweating," said Shanta Krishna Shrestha, chairman of a committee responsible for maintaining the temple.
"This denotes something like major political change or a natural calamity," said Shrestha.
"We must hold special prayers and make sacrifices asking for forgiveness."
Sacrificing animals such as goats or roosters to appease gods is common among Hindus in Nepal.
Sweating was seen on the idol in 2001, media reported, months before a palace massacre when King Birendra and eight other members of the royal family were shot dead in a drug-and-drink fuelled shooting spree by the then crown prince, who later turned the gun on himself.


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Yoga does not belong to an individual-India-The Times of India

Yoga does not belong to an individual-India-The Times of India: "Yoga does not belong to an individual"
As a Yogi I do not get sad at the misfortunes of the modern day man, nor do I get overjoyed at his fortunes. Everything that happens is for a purpose and part of the divine plan. I am drawing readers’ attention to the present debate that has started on patenting of yoga. I see it as a redundant exercise from a legal point of view, for my legal expert says that there is a WTO agreement which provides that the cultural heritage and the medicinal plants of a country are out of the purview of patenting. And everyone agrees that yoga originated in India and is considered part of the culture of India. From the point of view of yoga (which is my subject) let me assure all human kind that yoga is not the domain of a region. Yoga means a union with yourself (divinity unrealised). Yoga does not and cannot belong to an individual. Yoga is for a yogi and a yogi is beyond the scope of a religion or country. Ashtanga Yog ( yama niyama , asana , pranayama , pratyahara , dharana, dhyan and Samadhi ) is an eight-limbed yoga and not an eight-step yoga, with one limb missing it is incomplete. In the present debate we are talking about only asana which is just a limb. A person who thinks asana is yoga and who is patenting asanas and is thinking he is patenting yoga needs to go back to the kindergarten of yoga. This debate would at least tell the whole world what yoga is and would save many from being cheated by these unscrupulous business men in the garb of yogis, whose only purpose is to make money at the cost of the gullible. (The author heads the Dhyan Foundation in Delhi)

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BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | South West Wales | Farmers' worries if Shambo spared

Farmers' worries if Shambo spared

Farmers say they have sympathy for a "sacred" bullock facing slaughter - but feel the animal must be put down.
Global attention has focused on a campaign by monks at the Skanda Vale Temple in Carmarthenshire to save Shambo after it tested positive for TB.
The six-year-old British Friesian is due to be killed by Monday, 21 May, according to assembly government rules.
National Farmers' Union (NFU) Cymru president Dai Davies said exceptions could not be made.
Skanda Vale Temple, known as the Community of the Many Names of God, is a multi-denominational monastic centre at Llanpumsaint, which embraces all religious faiths and includes three Hindu shrines.
We hope we can work together to find a solution that doesn't involve killing
Brother Michael
More than 6,000 people have signed an online petition to save Shambo, but the final decision on its fate rests with the Welsh Assembly Government.
The monks are trying to set up a webcam - dubbed Moo Tube - so that supporters around the world can keep an eye on Shambo.
Mr Davies, a dairy farmer in nearby Whitland, said the case was "a difficult one".
"There is always sympathy to anyone who has livestock slaughtered," he said.
'Reservoir of infection'
"But it is a crippling disease and the only strategy from the assembly government at the moment is the slaughter of infected cattle.
"If you have an infected animal, it's a reservoir of infection."
Mr Davies said that there were many other TB cases where appeals for leniency had been in vain.

Government vet Christianne Glossop visited the temple on Friday
"There are lots of cases where prize animals were involved and people's livelihoods depended on it but, as they were infected, they had to obey the law of the land," he said.
"One is sympathetic, but you can't make exceptions or the whole thing snowballs - you have to follow the strategy of the vets."
The temple's Brother Michael has claimed that the case could become an international incident.
"I have just had a call from Australia - we have had Fox news, French news, CNN India, Russian media and a journalist from Canada - it's such an important issue," he said.
He said the assembly government had the flexibility in law to make an exception to save Shambo.
"We have appealed for them to use that discretion. We hope we can work together to find a solution that doesn't involve killing."
He hoped the webcam would allow people to check that Shambo was "happy and alright". "We have the kit and are trying to get it set up as soon as possible," he said.
On Friday, Christianne Glossop, the Welsh Assembly Government's senior veterinary officer, visited Shambo and vowed to treat the issue sensitively.
Last year, 5,220 cattle in Wales were culled because they failed the TB test.


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Welsh Hindus fight to save "Shambo" the sacred bull - Yahoo! News

Welsh Hindus fight to save "Shambo" the sacred bull - Yahoo! News: "Welsh Hindus fight to save 'Shambo' the sacred bull "
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A Hindu group in Wales is fighting to save the life of a bull they believe is sacred from slaughter after it tested positive for bovine tuberculosis.
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Followers at the Skanda Vale Hindu temple in the western Welsh town of Llanpumsaint, Carmarthen, are considering forming a human chain in an attempt to save Shambo the temple bull from the abattoir, and have launched a petition on their Web site [www.skandavale.org/shambo.htm].
Appeals to the Welsh Assembly and Britain's Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs have failed, and a notice of intended slaughter has been issued.
The Hindu order at Skanda Vale, the Community of the Many Names of God, said in a statement: "If we were to permit DEFRA to kill Shambo it would be an appalling desecration of life, the sanctity of our temples and Hinduism as a whole.
"We could no more allow the slaughter of Shambo than we could the killing of a human being. Ultimately, we will be willing to defend his life with our own."
Swami Suryananda, a senior monk at the Many Names monastery, said the issue had "galvanised" Hindus.
"Shambo is a healthy animal, and we hope we can find a third way with the assembly and DEFRA to save him," he told Reuters.
The current policy of DEFRA is to slaughter any animal that tests positive for the disease, although it said in this particular case it was an issue for the Welsh Assembly.
A spokeswoman for the assembly said: "We fully understand that this can be distressing for the owners, but these measures are in place to protect public health and animal health and prevent the further spread of the disease."
The Welsh branch of the National Farmers' Union, NFU Cymru, said it had "every sympathy" for the trauma the Hindu religious order must be going through "as many other livestock farmers in the area have already suffered a similar fate".
But it went on to say that "regrettably a holistic approach to the eradication of this disease is essential if we are to stop the spread of TB".
The temple, which has taken legal advice, has argued that vaccination and isolation can prevent the disease from spreading to other cattle and humans. The animal will never enter the food chain, it added.
In the meantime, the community, has constructed a special shrine within its main temple for six-year-old Shambo.

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Dalai Lama eyes retiring in speech to U.S. students - Yahoo! News

Dalai Lama eyes retiring in speech to U.S. students - Yahoo! News: "Dalai Lama eyes retiring in speech to U.S. students "
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, said on Wednesday he was ready to retire in a few years but will keep championing causes to help the Tibetan people, culture and environment.
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Speaking at Smith College in Massachusetts to about 5,000 students, faculty and invited guests of the Tibetan community, Tibet's exiled and revered spiritual leader said he already sees himself semi-retired.
"Within a few years' time, I will retire completely," the 71-year-old monk and Nobel Peace Prize winner said.
The Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamsala, India, in the outer Himalayas, since 1959. He was active in establishing there the Central Tibetan Administration, Tibet's government in exile. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
Wearing a yellow-and-maroon robe, he said he was honored to have been recognized in the world for his "small contribution to the welfare of humanity," and suggested the elected Tibetan leadership in exile can soon carry on his mission.
The Dalai Lama says he wants greater autonomy, not independence, for his predominantly Buddhist homeland, but China considers him a separatist and accuses him of continuing to promote Tibetan independence.
A boy the Dalai Lama picked as successor is believed to have been under house arrest since 1995, when he was 6 years old. Human rights groups call him the world's youngest political prisoner.
The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule, nine years after the Chinese army marched into Tibet.
"The Tibetan nation is passing through its darkest period in 2,000 years," he told the gathering.
In recent years, Smith College has collaborated with a nearby college to sustain a program of annual academic exchanges with exiled Tibetan scholars.

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Archaeologist says Herod's tomb found-Rest of World-World-The Times of India

Archaeologist says Herod's tomb found-Rest of World-World-The Times of India: "Archaeologist says Herod's tomb found"

JERUSALEM: An Israeli archaeologist said on Tuesday that the tomb of King Herod, famed for expanding the Jewish second temple during his reign in the first century BC, had been discovered in the occupied West Bank. Pieces of an elaborate sarcophagus believed to contain Herod's remains were found three weeks ago, Ehud Netzer, professor of archaeology at Hebrew University, told a news conference. "Three weeks ago we found the sarcophagus and we knew that it was it," said Netzer, who led the digs and has been working at the site since 1972. The tomb was located at Herodium, a mesa rising more than 750 metres (2,475 feet) above sea level some 12 kilometres south of Jerusalem in the West Bank, Netzer said. Herod built a palace on the flattened hilltop and was thought to have been buried there, but years of excavations failed to find the burial site. "The location and unique nature of the findings, as well as the historical record, leave no doubt that this was Herod's burial site," Netzer said, adding that no inscriptions have yet been found. The sarcophagus was discovered on the northeast slope of the mesa, where archaeological excavation began in August 2006. It "was broken into hundreds of pieces, no doubt deliberately," Netzer said, adding that it appeared to have been destroyed between 66 and 72 AD during the first Jewish revolt against the Romans. "It is an important discovery, first of all because Herod is well known," he said. "Secondly, because Herod is a personality that is important to the Christians – he is mentioned many times in the New Testament. Thirdly, Herodium is a wonderful building that Herod left us," he added. Herod, sometimes called Herod the Great, was appointed king of Judea by the Romans in around 40 BC. He greatly expanded the Jewish second temple and ordered building works in Caesaeria, Jericho and at the hilltop fortress of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea. The discovery is likely to spark political fallout in a region where archaeological finds inevitably become linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and any claims that appear to strengthen one side's connection to the land are viewed suspiciously by the other. After the news conference, Shaul Goldstein, an official with the Gush Etzion Jewish settlement near the Herodium site, told army radio that the find "constitutes new proof of a connection between Gush Etzion and the Jewish people and Jerusalem." He called on the government to name Herodium "a national and religious site." Palestinian tourism minister Khulud Dwaibess, who oversees archaeological sites, said that a team of Palestinian archaeologists was due to inspect the site and that her ministry would not comment until after receiving their report.

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600-yr-old musical code cracked-Health/Science-The Times of India

600-yr-old musical code cracked-Health/Science-The Times of India: "600-yr-old musical code cracked"


LONDON: A Scottish church which featured in the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code has revealed another mystery hidden in secret code for almost 600 years. A father and son who became fascinated by symbols carved into the chapel's arches say they have deciphered a musical score encrypted in them. Thomas Mitchell, a 75-year-old musician and ex-Royal Air Force code breaker, and his composer and pianist son Stuart, described the piece as "frozen music". "The music has been frozen in time by symbolism," Mitchell said on his Web site www.tjmitchell.com/stuart/rosslyn.html), which details the 27-year project to crack the chapel's code. "It was only a matter of time before the symbolism began to thaw out and begin to make sense to scientific and musical perception." The 15th Century Rosslyn Chapel, about seven miles south of the Scottish capital Edinburgh, featured in the last part of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code one of the most successful novels of all time which has been turned into a Hollywood film. Stuart Mitchell said he and his father were intrigued by 13 intricately carved angel musicians on the arches of the chapel and by 213 carved cubes depicting geometric-type patterns. "They are of such exquisite detail and so beautiful that we thought there must be a message here," he said. Years of research led the Mitchells to an ancient musical system called cymatics, or Chladni patterns, which are formed by sound waves at specific pitches. The two men matched each of the patterns on the carved cubes to a Chladni pitch, and were able finally to unlock the melody. The Mitchells have called the piece The Rosslyn Motet and added words from a contemporary hymn to complete it. They have also scheduled a world premiere at a concert in the chapel on May 18, when four singers will be accompanied by eight musicians playing the piece on medieval instruments. Simon Beattie of the Rosslyn Chapel Trust said that he was delighted to have the mystery finally solved, and was intrigued by the music itself. "It's not something you would want to put on in the car and listen to, but it's certainly an interesting piece of music," he said. "It's got a good medieval sound to it."


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Explorers find ancient caves, paintings in Nepal - Yahoo! News

Explorers find ancient caves, paintings in Nepal - Yahoo! News: "Explorers find ancient caves, paintings in Nepal "
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Explorers have discovered a series of caves decorated with ancient Buddhist paintings, set in sheer cliffs in Nepal's remote Himalayan north, leaving archaeologists excited and puzzled.
An international team of scholars, archaeologists, climbers and explorers examined at least 12 cave complexes at 14,000 feet near Lo Manthang, a mediaeval walled city in Nepal's Mustang district, about 125 km (80 miles) northwest of Kathmandu.
The caves contain paintings that could date back as far as the 13th century, as well as Tibetan scripts executed in ink, silver and gold and pre-Christian era pottery shards.
"Who lived in those caves? When were they there, when were (the caves) first excavated and how did the residents access them, perched as they are on vertical cliffs?" asked Broughton Coburn, an American member of the survey team.
"It's a compelling, marvelous mystery."
Explorers from the United States, Italy and Nepal used ice axes and ropes to climb to the caves, cutting steps in the cliff face as they went.
"These findings underscore the richness of the Tibetan Buddhist religious tradition of this area -- stretching back nearly a millennium -- as well as the artistic beauty and wide geographical reach of Newari artists," said Coburn, an expert in Himalayan conservation and development.
Newaris are ethnic Nepalis renowned for skills in wall paintings and other forms of mostly Buddhist art.
The cave complexes are several hours walking distance apart. Some chambers were thought to have been used for burials, and there were also mounds archaeologists hope may hide further treasures.
There are about 20 openings in each complex, and their multiple floors are connected by vertical passages with rudimentary handholds or footholds, requiring some climbing skill to negotiate.
They contained stupas, decorative art and paintings depicting various forms of the Buddha, often with disciples, supplicants and attendants.
The site of recent findings lies north of Mount Annapurna, the world's tenth highest mountain.
Coburn said the artifacts remained unpillaged partly because the area has, until recently, been inaccessible.
One cave's mural paintings were executed in sub-tropical themes -- containing palm trees, billowing Indian textiles and birds as well as animals, he said.
"For Nepal, and for the Lobas, the people of northern Mustang, these are national treasures, and they need to be preserved and protected," Coburn said.
Government officials were upbeat.
"These are very hopeful findings and foreign explorers could be allowed to carry out further exploration in the area," said Prakash Darnal, senior archaeologist at the government's ministry of culture.
Few foreigners are currently allowed to visit the area.

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2nd century BC Buddhist art cave discovered-Rest of World-World-The Times of India

2nd century BC Buddhist art cave discovered-Rest of World-World-The Times of India: "2nd century BC Buddhist art cave discovered"

2nd century BC Buddhist art cave discoveredSudeshna Sarkar[3 May, 2007 l 0034 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK]
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KATHMANDU: As the world celebrated the 2,551st birth anniversary of the Buddha on Wednesday, Nepal – his birthplace – had an additional reason to rejoice: The discovery of an ancient cave, an older Ajanta with exquisite wall paintings, in its northernmost tip jutting into Tibet. A team of scholars and climbers stumbled upon the treasure trove last month during a search for historic caves said to be abounding in the virtually uninhabited tract of frozen land, preserved by the icy temperatures and untouched for millennia. Funded by adventure gear maker North Face and a US-based production house, the expedition discovered a partly collapsed enclave containing a mural of 55 panels depicting the life of the Buddha. The paintings are highly evocative of Ajanta, says art conservator Luigi Fieni, referring to the first known Buddhist cave art dating to 1st and 2nd centuries BC. Fieni has been camping in Mustang, the remote mountainous district that was once a rich and powerful Tibetan kingdom, dominating the trans-Himalayan trade between India and Tibet. The art, he says, is executed in a style not seen in Mustang.

An interface between sport and religion? -Europe-World-The Times of India

An interface between sport and religion? -Europe-World-The Times of India: "An interface between sport and religion? "


LONDON: The revelation that Pakistan's cricket team is more interested in praying than playing has sparked debate on the historical interface between sport and religion and the so-called 'Chariots of Fire' syndrome. Even as the team's former media manager PJ Mir spoke of their apparent inability to “live and let live” and increasingly brandish their in-your-face faith as a badge of identity, British academic opinion on the subject remained mixed. Experts said the best example of sporting excellence underpinned by strong religious belief remained the 1981 British film Chariots of Fire , based on the uplifting real-life story of Scottish sprinter Eric Liddle, who refused to run the Olympic 100 metres race in the summer of 1924 because it was Sunday, the Lord's Day. More recently, British triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards refused to compete on Sundays due to his devout Christian beliefs, which cost him the chance to shine at the 1991 World Championships. Says Ruphine S Obare of Sheffield University, who examined the tangled issue of whether sports can even exist without religion: “The Olympic games centred on the magnificent temple of Zeus at Olympia; and when the ancient Olympics begun in 776 BC, the Greeks offered sacrifices and took oaths in honour of Zeus to emphasise the games' religious significance.” “This religious phenomenon continued to be used by Pierre de Coubertin in his writings of the modern Olympic movement. The important source of this movement was the search for a 'humanistic' or 'civil' religion. Thus the sentiments, themes, conceptions and actions pervading Olympism and the Olympic Games have religious connotations,” said Ruphine. Obare believes that even the secular modern sporting marketplace betrays "a number of interesting parallels between sports and religion, including the 'worship' of athletes as gods and heroes (Michael Jordan), the 'idolisation' of former athletes in Sport Halls of Fame (Sebastian Coe), the daily 'reading' of the sport pages by the 'devout' fan (and) the collection of 'symbols of Faith' such as trophies, baseballs, game balls, and sport-related souvenirs.” According to a seminal study on soccer as a means of building and burnishing social identity in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Brunel University's Daniel Burdsey and Robert Chappell declare: “Both nations are underpinned by a hegemonic Protestant culture and football acts as an arena for Catholic challenges to, and Protestant preservation, of this dominance.” They add that the national team in the vast majority of football-playing countries is seen to “make a considerable contribution to the construction and maintenance of national identities.” Football, say Burdsey and Chappell, played an important part in the 1990 unification of North and South Yemen into the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. It helped break down divisions between the French and Flemish populations in Belgium and “assisted in the promotion of racial tolerance and integration” in France because of the multi-ethnic composition of the 1998 World Cup-winning side. But religion and sport have a more controversial compact in an officially, almost-fiercely secular country like Turkey. Burdsey and Chappell admit that in Turkey “football acts not only as a symbol of modernity and inclusion within Europe, but paradoxically, it also acts as a means of cultural differentiation from the Western world.” According to well-known London-based Pakistan cricket writer, Qamar Ahmed, the Pakistan cricket team has been taking the interface between sport and religion too far. “They are paid to do a job, not to pray. The problem with the team is they've become increasingly aligned to the Tableeghi Jamaat ever since Saeed Anwar became captain. And so they've started to sprout beards, pray incessantly and neglect the game in favour of namaaz,” said Ahmed.


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