Olympics in China

Air pollution is going to be the worst problem during Olympics.
One of the quickest ways you can cut back on air pollution is to drive your car less, or ask your parents to drive less and use less polluting alternatives like busing, walking, or bicycling whenever possible. The less we pollute, the easier it is for Earth's natural systems to clear the air and water. Of course there are as many solutions to pollution problems as there are sources of pollution. One very common solution is to put some kind of filter at the source - like "smoke-stack scrubbers" at electric power plants, or catalytic converters on your car. One of the greatest air-pollution success stories is the ban on lead in gasoline. By taking lead out of gasoline, less lead is spewed into the air, and average levels of lead in children's blood have been steadily falling since the ban went into effect.
The problem of global climate change is linked to the accumulation of gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, in the atmosphere. Scientists have disagreed over the net effect of this pollution on the global climate: some have argued that it produces global warming; others have maintained that it gradually cools global temperatures. Scientists do agree that a sustained climate change in either direction could significantly affect the environment. It will affect the ozone layer of earth. Ozone is a gas that's found in both the Earth's upper and lower atmospheres. The protective ozone in the upper atmosphere is very different from the harmful ozone in the lower atmosphere. Ozone that exists naturally 10 to 30 miles (16 to 48 kilometers) above the Earth protects us all from Sun's radiation UV rays.
But ground-level ozone is different. It's found close to Earth's surface and is a serious pollutant. It's produced when sunlight combines and reacts with chemicals produced by cars, power plants, and factories. That's why ground-level ozone, a main component of smog, tends to be higher in sunnier climates or during hot, still weather.
One contentious air pollution issue continued to be the effect of smoking in public places, especially as it concerns the rights and health of nonsmokers. Many states have enacted legislation designed to protect nonsmokers in public places, and the battle between smokers and nonsmokers made its way into the courts. An increasing number of restaurants, airlines, and other public facilities dealt with the problem by banning smoking completely.
Asthma, skin diseases, suffocation are effects and people have to live in areas with levels of particle pollution that are unhealthy year-round.
In addition to ozone and particle pollution, other pollutants include gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. High levels of these gases can also affect lung function.
Ref. New York Times, Nature.com, Environment’s.com, Teri.com, trees.com, China.com. Olympics.com

Program at local church helps divorcees recover - Campus Life

Program at local church helps divorcees recover - Campus Life
The American justice Dept. have recently approved the power of yoga and meditation vide a recent judgement in the American court." Man Who Slapped Wife Sentenced to Yoga, It's Anger Management, Says Judge." First there was house arrest. Now there's yoga. A judge ordered a man convicted of slapping his wife to take a yoga class as part of his one-year probation. "It's part of anger management," County Criminal Court at Law Judge Larry Standley said of the ancient Hindu philosophy of exercise and well-being. "For people who are into it, it really calms them down. " Standley, a former prosecutor, said the case of James Lee Cross was unique. Cross, a 53-year-old car salesman from Tomball, explained that his wife was struggling with a substance abuse problem and that he struck her on New Year's Eve during an argument about her drinking. "He was trying to get a hold of her because she has a problem," Standley said after the court hearing. "I thought this would help him realize that he only has control over himself." The sentence came as a surprise to Cross, who was told to enroll in a class and report back to Standley on his progress. "I'm not very familiar with it," Cross said of yoga. "From what I understand, it may help in a couple ways, not only as far as mentally settling, but maybe a little weight loss." Darla Magee, an instructor at Yoga Body Houston in River Oaks, said she would recommend that Cross take a basic yoga class emphasizing breathing and including a variety of postures -- forward bends, back bends and twists. "Yoga can help us to get rid of many emotional issues we might have," she said. "It's a spiritual cleanse." Prosecutor Lincoln Goodwin agreed to a sentence of probation without jail time because Cross had no significant criminal history http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2365341. Yoga is far from simply being physical exercises, rather it is an aid to establishing a new way of life which embraces both inner and outer realities.However this way of life is an experience which cannot be understood intellectually and will only become living knowledge through practice and experience. Yoga which is one of the greatest Indian contribution to the world has got vast potential in all fields. and an Indian way to get synergy among body, mind and soul.

Dasaavataaram by Kamala Hassan

Incarnations of Vishnu Narayana in ten forms describes the evolution of human beings. Purusha Sooktam says "Atyadhishta Dasaamgulam" - Means, TheViraatPurush is still 10 fingers beyond all our measurements.When the ancient intellectual giants of Bhaarat says something,there could me many more dimensions than what we can perceive. Wecan make many interpretations or dimensions for each and everyword of the scripts - everything will perfectly match but stillthere can be more perceptions. Why there are avataarams only for Lord Vishnu and not for Shivaor Brahma?I feel, this is because, Brahma is the Lord of birth and Shiva,the Lord for death - both are momentary process - Till the lastbreath is gone out, a living thing cant be called as dead. Ad itwill take only a moment to stop the breath. Same is the case forbreathWhere as life is a continuous process and in every moment of lifeitself, there are births and deaths - in every moment, theprevious moment is dead the present one is born. This continuumof moments constitute the life and this continuum makes acontinuous cange in everything also : the physical body, themind, the thoughts. So, to successfully pass through this continuum, one has to takedifferent actions according to the moment.Matsya is the first avataram after pralayam. The speciality offish is that, it is always active and never takes rest. So, if apralaya - or a total destruction or a tragedy comes into ourlife, instead of keeping depressed, we must start new and kepourselves highly active like a fish.Next is Koorma. this word has many meanings such as subtle orconcentration or power of focusing etc. Once we become active, the next quality we have to achieve is thepower of focusing or determinin gour aim and work hard for theaim. Like a tortoise keeps aways itself from all outwardnuisances, we should be able to withdraw ourself from outwardnuisance and be able to focus on our aim.Next is varaham. The varaham is a strong animal and if somebodymakes it irritated, it will become violent and react back to keepthem away from its world of activity. Like that, if our tortoisenature is not enough to keep away others from desturbing us, weshould act like a vvaraham to protect ourselves. There is nothingwrong if we stop others from interfering into our life. Our lifeis important tan the comments of others about us.Next is Narasimham - The one & only one Spontaneous Avathaaram -There were lot of experiemnts in the life of Prahlada butfinally, within a fraction of time, the Lord appeared to protecthim. Like the Narasimham, we should observe the situationsclearly, constantly and patiently. When the time comes, we shouldrespond to the situations spontaneously - especially if we areinto business or in a position of a decision maker or something. Next is Vamana: Small but precise and assertive. Always calm andpleasant.There are interpretations about vamana's action that he destroyeda nice king like mahabali and the most ideal Kingdom. Observeclosely: Vamana done so not for his personal benefits but toprotect the Devas and Indra. Indra is none but our own Indriyaas.Mahabali was ofcourse the best king for his people. However,Indra thought that through the good things , he may conquerIndra. Means, Even if we are doing all the good things, it shouldbe with the full awareness of all our Indriyaas and the mind. Ifwe do charity, it should not be for the publicity or for the sakeof charity or just because we believe that charity is good. !00%of our body an dmind should be involved in our actions. If it isnot happening, just stop it without any regression- as Vamanapushed Mahabali to Paathala, stop all the activities which arenot fully accepted by yor mind and body.Next is Parasuraama: A man of pround prejudice - we have to meetsimilar people through out in our life. Understand that like us,they are also an avathaar of the same God. Accept them as it is.Never try to conquer them or argue with them in the usual mannerNext is Sreerama: The only way to conquer Parasurama is patience.With these qualities, we can conquer even ravana - themutldimensional intellectual giant with a strong base of supersoldiers and all. Next is Balarama: The very basic quality is his muscle power andhence the name. It is written in the bhagavatha that, when gargamaharshi taken him for naamakaranam, Rama punched his chest withhis leg and proved his strength then itself and hence Maharshinamed him as Balarama. We have to take care of our body also. Butbalarama proves that, he alone can not do anything. He was just asuppoter for Krishna.Next is Sree Krishna: The dynamic avathaar of love andcompassion. He shows us how to be active without having a feelingof ownership of anything. We also should do our duties toourselves, to the family, to the society and to the world butnever keep the ego. Ego is defined as Edging God Out.Krishna was also named by Garga Maharshi and he pulled Maharshi'sbeard when Maharshi kept him on his lap for the naamakarana. SoMaharshi decided, since the child is pulling everything ( orattracts everything) to him let him be Krishna. Krishna means,that which attracts.Through out his life, Krishna never used any word that makes aninferiority feeling on the others. Even to the depressed Arjunaat the battlefield, he called "Oh the great soldier, the son of agreat king ...... never he called oh idiot or something likethat. The final is Kalki: For anything born or created, there should bean end or death. And there should be a reaoson or cause for theend or death. Even after going through all the previous states,if we are not able to throw away our possessions, then thedisturbances will automatically start because, end is inevitable.We can see the end of many nations, cultures, business,industries, lives .... Without any known reasons, a disturbancestarts and finally it will end on the cease of the industry orthe business or the nation......However, if we can get rid off from our possessions andobcessions, or, if we can acquire the real wisdom, then thesecalamities will not affect us.. Even if the hard earned things oflife are totally ceased, we will not feel any distraction to ourmind because, our mind is seasoned and knows that it isinevitable and it is the time for the end. This state is theabsolute state of Moksha. Kalki is supposed to save the goodpeople from the evil: Means, Those who achieve this state of mindwill not become agitated for anything happening in their life andthey will be able to restart anything even after a totaldestruction. In this way kalki will save them.

Appachi the real women

People live selflessly in different ways. She was there, with us, in the family when I was born, when my siblingswere born and also when our children were born; she was there with usthrough the vicissitudes of life for over 50 years, when our parents anda few others passed away, when we got married and when some of ourchildren got married,and in almost all family functions, when we went onpilgrimage or almost wherever we went.She helped our parents to bring usup and helped us to bring up our children.. Her habits were clean, herhands cleaner with the result that the house always remained unlockedwhen she was at home and never had we to regret on that count.Shequarreled some time with us, collected her cloth bundle and walked away,vowing that she would never step into our house again, only to returnbefore the next meal time for the kids. Father used to shout at her andthreaten to throw her out, but in the next five minutes he could be seenpleading for a tobacco bit from her. "She behaves like a mother-in-law"the daughters -in-law of the house used to complain to their husbandsbut used to rush to her for her advice if their kids sneeze more thanonce or wet their garment more than twice. All the children in thefamily loved,respected and treated her as they would treat their motheror grand mother as they all were aware of the role played by her innourishing and nursing them up with unalloyed affection and undilutedcare.. She served our family for several years with the faith andsincerity of a dog and died like a sanyasini leaving only lovablememories behind her.
She was Appachi.She had no clue as where exactly she was born and when, or who herparents were, though her foster mother told her that someone located hernear a grove in Kodaimalai in Nilgiri gardens.She grew along with thefoster mother's only son, Yellakki and brought him up as her ownbrother,after the boy's mother passed away .Yellakki did no know thattheir origin was different."I would have been then sixteen, seventeen or even twenty, when I cameto the city " She used to say.She worked as a servant maid here and there and Yellakki worked as ahelper, a broker, a supporting actor in cine field and all suchthings.The absence of parental love combined with poverty and hardshipled him to lead a reckless life and he never worried about his sisternor about his own self.