Palestinian children aspire to death as Martyrs PA TV June 2002 Host: You described Shahada as something beautiful. Do you think it is beautiful? Walla age 11: Shahada (martyrdom) is a very, very beautiful thing. Everyone yearns for Shahada. What could be sweeter than going to paradise? Host: What is better, peace and full rights For the Palestinian people or Shahada? Walla: Shahada. I will achieve my rights after becoming a Shaid (martyr). Host: OK Yussra, would you agree with that? Yussra age 11: Of course Shahada is sweet. We don't want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life, but from the Afterlife. Host: Do you actually love death? Yussra: Death is not Shahada Host: No, I mean the absence after death Yussra: No child loves death. The children of Palestine adopted the concept that Shahada is very good. Every Palestinian child, say someone aged 12, says: O Lord, I would like to become a Shahid. Host: We've got a call, Sabrine from Ramallah. Sabrine: Ayyat Al-Akhras was 17 when she blew herself up. Host: Sabrine, are you for it or against it? Sabrine: Of course I support blowing up, it is our right. Host: Sabrine; now is it natural That Ayyat Al-Akhras blows herself up? Sabrine: Of course it's natural.
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The 5th annual Blogher '09 conference was held this year in Chicago. Bloggers from every corner of the blogosphere got together for hands on learning, rich discussions, networking and also met with brands that support them. Here's an inside look!
Adopt-A-Classroom increases opportunity for student success by empowering teachers with community partners and funds to purchase resources for the classroom.
Teachers, our education system’s most integral component, suffer from inadequate resources in the classroom, which, in turn, hampers their ability to meet students’ needs. To compensate, teachers spend an average of $1,200 of their own money every school year - totally $4 billion annually - purchasing materials for their classrooms, undermining teacher morale, and ultimately student success.
Adopt-A-Classroom empowers teachers with additional funds to mitigate their out-of-pocket expenses and to purchase hands-on learning resources so they can transform their classrooms into vibrant centers for learning. The community support not only bolsters teacher morale but also student enthusiasm for school.
Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is a mass pilgrimage centered on the ritual of riverside bathing, it is variously called the ‘the Great Indian Bathing Festival’, ‘the Urn Festival’, ‘the
Pitcher Festival’ and so forth. It occurs four times every twelve years rotating between
Allahabad/Prayaga at the confluence of the rivers Ganga (Ganges), Jamuna (Yamuna) and the
concealed Saraswati, Haridwar (Hara Dwar) on the river Ganga (Ganges), Ujjain on the
river Kshipra (Shipra), and Nasik on the river Godavari (Gomati)
Bathing in these rivers during the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is considered an endeavour of
great merit, cleansing both body and spirit. The Allahabad and Haridwar (Hara Dwar)
festivals are routinely attended by five million or more pilgrims; the Kumbha (Kumbh)
Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. It may also be the oldest
The main reason many people come to India is the quest for spiritual knowledge, A Large number of visitors reach the ancient centers of learning like Kashi, Bodh Gaya , Prayag, Kanchi, Puri , Dwarika, Haridwar , Gorakpur , Rishikesh etc to satisfy their thirst for spiritual knowledge
India from time immemorial has been considered the Jagat Guru of all spiritual, Religious, Intellectual and Philosophical concepts and ideas. The same Sanathana-Dharma or the Hindu Dharma forms the basis of Buddhism or the Buddha Dharma, Jainism or the Jaina Dharma, Sikhism or the Sikh Dharma, the Bhakti Dharma, Sufism or Tavasouf etc
This core generally called Dharma can may only be seen through the Jnana Chakshu and experienced through the Philosophies known as Darshana. There are two Categories of Dharsanas the first category collectively called the Asthika Darshanas derives their source from the Vedas and is collectively called the Saddarshanas, Sad meaning the six and Darshana meaning to see. The second category are silent about the authority of the Vedas and are called Nastika Darshana, they are the Bauddha, Jaina and Charvaka Darshanas
The Darshanas both Astika and Nastika, have spawned many schools of organized monks. The training grounds for these monks are called Ashramas or Mutts (Maths). These Mutts are aligned to a single Sampradaya and propagate their philosophies through discourses, worship, song & dances, festivals, etc. The principle dirty of each Sampradaya may be either Shiva, Vishnu, Ganapathi, Dattatreya, Devi, Surya, Skanda, etc (depending on the Darshana they belong to)
The Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela has representation from every school of Dharma and Sampradaya, it is the great school for the spiritually inclined to experience all the Indian philosophical schools at one place at the same time
There are several Shastrartas, Tarka, Upanyasa, Ughabhoga, Parayana, Pravachanas which are organized specially during the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela. These are various types of debates, lectures, talks and seminars pertaining to various philosophies which churn out several new interpretations to the ancient texts and treatises, sometimes they introduce new dimensions to their respective schools, sometimes deleting, sometimes adding to the pool of spiritual knowledge
kalpavasi.com
Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is a mass pilgrimage centered on the ritual of riverside bathing, it is variously called the the Great Indian Bathing Festival, the Urn Festival, the Pitcher Festival and so forth. It occurs four times every twelve years rotating between Allahabad/Prayaga at the confluence of the rivers Ganga (Ganges), Jamuna (Yamuna) and the concealed Saraswati, Haridwar (Hara Dwar) on the river Ganga (Ganges), Ujjain on the river Kshipra (Shipra), and Nasik on the river Godavari (Gomati)
Bathing in these rivers during the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is considered an endeavour of great merit, cleansing both body and spirit. The Allahabad and Haridwar (Hara Dwar) festivals are routinely attended by five million or more pilgrims; the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. It may also be the oldest
Two traditions are in circulation regarding the origin and timing of the festival: one that stems from ancient texts known as the Puranas, and the other that connects it with astrological considerations. According to the Puranic epic, the gods and demons had churned the milky ocean at the beginning of time in order to gather various divine treasures including a jar containing a potion of immortality - Ambrosia. As the jar emerged from the ocean the gods and demons began a terrific battle for its possession. During the battle, which according to one legend the gods won by trickery, four drops of the precious potion fell to earth, when Jayantha (Jayanth) the son of the chief deity Indra carried the jar (Kumbha/kumbh) that held the ambrosia in the form of a giant bird - these places became the sites of the four Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela festivals, according to another legend he ran away with the jar and hid them on twelve locations on earth where few drops of ambrosia fell, four of these places are known and identified as the four sites for the Kumbh (Kumbh) Mela, the other eight locations are being researched by our team
The astrological tradition (ascribed to a lost Puranic text and not traceable in extant editions) seems to stem from a very ancient festival called the Kumbha Parva, which occurred at Hardwar every twelfth year when Jupiter was in Aquarius (the Indian name being Kumbha/Kumbh) and the sun entered Aries
At some later time the term 'Kumbha (Kumbh)' was prefixed to the Melas held at Prayaga, Ujjain, and Nasik and these four sites became identified with the four mythical locations of the immortality potion - Ambrosia. In theory the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela festivals are supposed to occur every three years, rotating between the four cities. In practice the four-city cycle may actually take eleven or thirteen years and this because of the difficulties and controversies in calculating the astrological conjunctions. Furthermore the interval between the Kumbha Mela at Nasik and that at Ujjain is not of three years; they are celebrated the same year or only a year apart. This deviation in practice is intriguing and cannot be fully explained by either astrological or mythological means.
kalpavasi.com
You meet lots of friendly, out-going people at festivals, but what if they stole you credit card and started using it to buy beer, food and generally used it as their own? Data Snatchers do it every day on the internet. Watch a never seen before trick from street magician Dynamo…
http://www.free.avg.com
