From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Dec 5 21:00:16 1996 Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 18:40:40 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: this is a test Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This is a test this is a test _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Dec 5 21:17:08 1996 Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 18:57:33 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT : VHP GCNet Online Now! Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, I am pleased to announce that now there is a network exculsively for the VHP Governing Council Members and chapter coordinators. In order to communicate messages to all the GC members all you need to do is send a message to : vhpgc-l@hindunet.org And the message will be forwarded to all! May I suggest that we use this tool to communicate programs taking place around the country and our views on organizational matters only? If some people would like to circulate general news items, then we can set up (utilize) a separate list rather than using this forum, since all the subscribers may not be interested in non-organizational matters. Happy Networking . . . regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Dec 5 21:20:11 1996 Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 19:00:35 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center Now Online! Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center is a complete web site with about 100 separate documents. It is co-sponsored by GHEN (HSC) and VHP of America. Mandir contains listing of Hindu temples including Jain, Sikh, and Buddhist temples. Temples in several countries are listed with drections, maps and telephone numbers where available. A section is devoted to links to all the known Hindu Temples. Other sections include Temple Art, Temple Histories, Temple Construction and Mandir Manthan, a forum for temple related discussion. A section devoted to Resources for Temples has also been created. The URL for Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center is : http://www.vhp.org/vhp/temple_info/ or http://www.hindunet.org/temple_info/ We hope that the community finds these new resources to be valuable. Global Hindu Electronic Networks Home Page : The Hindu Universe http://www.hindunet.org is a comprehensive site on Hindu dharma. GHEN is a project of Hindu Students Council (http://www.hindunet.org/hsc/) Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America is the premier organization of Hindus in USA. Its web site is : http://www.vhp.org/vhp/ For additional information please write to webmaster@hindunet.org regards, ajay shah webmaster@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From rvarma@stallion.jsums.edu Thu Dec 5 23:52:55 1996 Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 22:54:44 -0600 (CST) From: Rajiv Varma To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: this is a test In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit test Ok regards, Rajiv On Thu, 5 Dec 1996, Ajay Shah wrote: > This is a test > > this is a test > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From SSOMANI@wpsmtp.siumed.edu Sun Dec 8 11:07:10 1996 Message-Id: X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 4.1 Date: Sun, 08 Dec 1996 10:04:15 -0600 From: Satu Somani To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center Now Online! -Reply Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Ajay: Many thanks for your two e-mails. I am pleased to know about vhpgc-net. I am also pleased to have Hindu temples reference center addresses online. With best wishes, satu m. somani. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From SSOMANI@wpsmtp.siumed.edu Sun Dec 8 11:08:11 1996 Message-Id: X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 4.1 Date: Sun, 08 Dec 1996 10:05:14 -0600 From: Satu Somani To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: this is a test -Reply Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit test is ok. satu m. somani _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ssodhani@lynx.dac.neu.edu Mon Dec 9 16:19:43 1996 From: Seema Sodhani Message-Id: <199612092119.QAA19808@lynx.dac.neu.edu> Subject: adress To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Mon, 9 Dec 1996 16:19:22 -0500 (EST) In-Reply-To: from "Ajay Shah" at Dec 5, 96 07:00:35 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org please note that as of 12-9-96 my new email address is mjmehta@aol.com please re-direct all mail thank you mahesh mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Pallod@aol.com Thu Dec 12 08:42:17 1996 From: Pallod@aol.com Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 08:42:03 -0500 Message-ID: <961212084202_369309061@emout11.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center Now Online! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay good job. May be you want to send this news to all news papers. How about sending to Hinduism Today. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Dec 12 13:29:31 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 11:10:08 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center Now Online! In-Reply-To: <961212084202_369309061@emout11.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mihir will be making a press release for HSC. I think an independent VHP press rlease shold go as well... Sharmaji, Gaurangbhai, what do you think? Should I write one up? On Thu, 12 Dec 1996 Pallod@aol.com wrote: > Ajay good job. > > May be you want to send this news to all news papers. How about sending > to Hinduism Today. > > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Dec 12 15:57:28 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 13:38:06 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Cc: hsc@umdnj.edu Subject: Vinoba's Commentary on Gita Online Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am pleased to announce an excellent addition to our electronically available resouces. Thanks to the efforts of one of our readers Vijay Nathani we have now been able to put the entire copy of the book by Acharya Vinoba Bhave's Commentary on Bhagwad Gita (in all 18 chapters) on-line. This book joins our other scriptues on "Hindu Scriptures Reference Center" URL : http://www.hindunet.org/scriptures/ You will also find entire copy of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagwad Gira, Hanuman Chalisa, Bhaj Govindam and Vande Mataram (which I consider to be a modern day scripture). We have obtained several other cscriptures (Upanishads, strotas, shrutis etc.), so please keep your eyes open for further announcement. For any comment regarding Hindu Scriptures Reference Center please write to me at webmaster@hindunet.org. HSC Home page is http://www.hindunet.org/hsc/ VHP Home Page is : http://www.vhp.org/vhp/ And the Hindu Universe web page is: http://www.hindunet.org regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com Thu Dec 12 17:09:13 1996 From: nandsharma@lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) Date: Thu, 12 Dec 96 17:09:11 EST Message-Id: <9612122209.AA29115@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Original-From: nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Cc: VICHARAK@aol.com Subject: Re: Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center Now Online! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay: Since I have not seen the contents of the proposed press release or the Hindu Temple Reference Center, it is hard to comment but I still like the idea of a press release as long as it does nto include the email or mail addresses of all VHP-A GC members ( I am not suggesting that tis was implied in your email). So, please go ahead and send the press release re. Hindu temples on behalf of the VHP-A, please send me, Gaurangji and Yashpalji an email copy of it ( may be all EB members a copy). Thanks for leading this effort. Nand Kishor. Nand Kishore Sharma _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Fri Dec 13 05:55:01 1996 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 05:54:31 -0500 Message-ID: <961213055430_1652729218@emout01.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center Now Online! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay: It is a very good idea. We need this information all the time. See you in LA Regards to Lalita Mahesh mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Fri Dec 13 05:57:22 1996 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 05:56:52 -0500 Message-ID: <961213055650_1355169283@emout16.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center Now Online! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Sharmaji: It will be a very useful information on net. How do I access this information. Need some education. Regards Mahesh Mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From YLakra@aol.com Wed Jan 1 16:59:21 1997 From: YLakra@aol.com Date: Wed, 1 Jan 1997 03:39:58 -0500 Message-ID: <970101033957_1411432446@emout02.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Ietter of the president X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 To all the members of the 'Governing council of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. This statement is being released to all of you to announce the appointment of Dr. Abhay Asthana as the Joint General Secretary of the VHP of America. Dr. Asthana replaces Shri Ajay Shah. Ajay Shah will help Shri Nand Kishore Sharma, V.P public relations. Ajay will concentrate in developing electronic networks on the internet. Dr. Asthana will work with Sh. Gaurang Vaishnav, general secretary of VHP of America. I welcome Dr. Asthana to the executive body of VHP and wish Ajay great success in conquering the waves of the internet. 2. All of you are aware of the periodical Hinduism Today. This news paper is now being published in a magazine form and in my opinion doing a wonderful job in spreading the message and philosophy of Hinduism and is also countering some of the false propaganda being spread against our great religion. The newspaper, among other objectives, has mentioned Hindu unity as its objective. I think we in VHP can work together with Hinduism Today in creating Hindu agenda, Hindu forum and a platform for furthering the Hindu cause in this country. With this idea in mind , I contacted Sh. Guru Shiva Subramanyam Swami, the publisher of Hinduism Today. He, through one of his disciples, showed a keen interest in working with us. They have expressed desire to use our resources in gathering and publishing news and articles etc. gathered or written by us. For example, they will like to know the people amongst us who have interest and aptitude in journalism and photography etc. So that they could the services of these people to cover certain events affecting the Hindus in this country. They are specially keen to know and write about the experience of our members working in the Hindu Students Council. I think the possibilities of areas where we could collaborate in the cause of Hinduism are limitless. I'll like to hear from you with your views and suggestions. Yash Lakra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Pallod@aol.com Thu Jan 2 01:57:10 1997 From: Pallod@aol.com Date: Wed, 1 Jan 1997 12:37:53 -0500 Message-ID: <970101123752_910406662@emout09.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Ietter of the president X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Lakraji, Namashkar, wish you happy new year. I am very pleased to read your news release. I am pleased to hear the new oppointment of Dr. Asthana. Hinduism Today is widely read maaganie among hindus. I am glad that you are in tough with Hinduism Today. Working together with Hinduism Today we can strenghthen Hindu unity. If you need any help from me please let me know. I kept in touch with them. We are getting ready for Jan 12, Makar Shankkranthri festival. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri Jan 3 17:38:43 1997 Date: Thu, 2 Jan 1997 16:04:25 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Press Release: Community Resource of Hindu Temples & Scriptures Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The following VHP/HSC combined press release was sent about 10 days ago. I have seen it in at least two news papers. This is for GC's information --------------------------------- Press Release Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center Now Online! and Vinoba Bhave's Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita Mandir: Hindu Temples Reference Center is a complete web site with about 100 separate documents. It is co-sponsored by Global Hindu Electronics Network (GHEN), a joint project of Hindu Students Council (HSC) and VHP of America. Mandir contains listing of Hindu temples including Jain, Sikh, and Buddhist temples. Temples in several countries are listed with directions, maps and telephone numbers where available. A section is devoted to links to all the known Hindu Temples. Other sections include Temple Art, Temple Histories, Temple Construction and Mandir Manthan, a forum for temple related discussion. A section devoted to Resources for Temples has also been created. Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center may be accessed on the World Wide Web at: http://www.vhp.org/vhp/temple_info/ or http://www.hindunet.org/temple_info/ Also, the entire copy of Acharya Vinoba Bhave's Commentary on Bhagwad Gita (all 18 chapters) is now on-line. This book joins our other scriptures on "Hindu Scriptures Reference Center" http://www.hindunet.org/scriptures/ You will also find entire copy of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagwad Gita, Hanuman Chalisa, Bhaj Govindam and Vande Mataram. We have obtained several other scriptures (Upanishads, strotas, shrutis etc.), so please keep your eyes open for further announcement. The Global Hindu Electronic Networks Home Page (The Hindu Universe) is located at: http://www.hindunet.org This is a comprehensive site on Hindu dharma. GHEN is a project of Hindu Students Council (http://www.hindunet.org/hsc/). HSC is the international forum providing opportunities to learn about Hindu heritage and culture, to serve the community through SEVA, and to raise awareness about issues affecting the community. Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America is the premier organization of Hindus in USA. Its web site is: http://www.vhp.org/vhp/ For additional information please write to webmaster@hindunet.org For any comment regarding Hindu Scriptures Reference Center please write to webmaster@hindunet.org We hope that the community finds these new resources to be valuable. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Tue Jan 7 16:35:33 1997 Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 12:41:03 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT : Hindu Calendar Online Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Global Hindu Electronic Network is pleased to announce a new webpage "Hindu Calendar" on its web site, The Hindu Universe. URL for this pages is : http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_calendar/ This page contains comprehensive information about Hindu calendar, including links to "Today in Hindu Calendar", "This Month in Hindu Calendar", festival dates, including dates of importance to Sikhs and Jains, and Hindus from countries such as Nepal and Bali. Explanatory articles about Hindu era, moon days, months, and yuga are also available on this site. We would like to invite you to visit this site and bookmark it for your daily reference. Global Hindu Electronic Network is a project of Hindu Students Council (HSC). The Hindu Universe (http://www.hindunet.org) is a comprehensive web site on Hindu dharma with several thousand documents, containing broad ranging material on Hindu dharma. For more information about The Hindu Universe, please write to : webmaster@hindunet.org regards, ajay shah wembaster@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Tue Jan 7 18:45:54 1997 Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 16:25:45 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Potential Call For Action : Disneyland Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Disneyland and the Statue of Lord Ganesha Background : 1. There are statues of Lord Ganesha, as decorative pieces in Disneyland California (Temple of Doom Ride) 2. Recently, Disneyland has decided to remove the scdene where pirates chase women after purchasing them (in the Pirates of the Carribean ride) after some patrons complained that this ride was offensive to women. Objection : 1. No other religious symbols are depicted in Disneyland 2. The Hindu diety of Lord Ganesh is considered to be very auspecious by 900 million Hindus. 3. The depiction of this diety in "Temple iof Doom" is an insult to all the Hindus. Action : We are appreciateive of the sensitivity shown by Disneyland regarding Pirates of Carribean ride. We protest the depiction of sacred Hindu symbols in indiscriminate fashion. Disney should accord the Hindu dieties proper respect or remove the dieties from the "Temple of Doom" Why, one may ask, has Disney isolated Hindu dharma for the insult. ----------------------------- My Note : Please respond as to HR Net and VHP/HSC and HSS should take this issue up with Disney and press. Once I get opinions from people on this net, then I would like to form a small committee representing HRNet, HSC, VHP and HSS, and then chalk out a plan of action. The minimum plan for action would be a posting on all the newsgroup, followed by a press release, and a special section on GHEN website. --------------------------------- Here is a Hinduism Today Article -------------------------------- Here is a a backgroud article : Ganesha Graces Disneyland Is the Elephant God getting due respect? By Archana Dongre, Los Angeles Spun out of the supremely creative imagination of Walt Disney, Mickey Mouse is the central character of the fabled Disneyland. Although endowed with human-like qualities, he is still a mouse, the vehicle of Lord Ganesha since time immemorial. With this ironic coincidence, one might wonder, does the God of abundance and the abode of all artistic genius lurk somewhere in the sprawling 85-acre amusement park, casting his benevolent grace on the more than half-billion pilgrims of joy that have passed through the turnstiles of Disneyland since its doors opened in 1955? He is indeed there--thrice, in fact--as I discovered during a sweltering summer day's visit. But not all Hindus have been pleased with His less than dignified circumstances. I found Him first along the Jungle Cruise ride in the form of a giant, well-designed ten-foot grey stone statue, sitting royally since 1962 against a backdrop of green tropical forest. A few minutes into the ride, our guide erupted enthusiastically, "And now to your left you will see the Hindu deity of ..." The ride is replete with rustic, even barbaric themes, like cannibals dancing, a tribal selling human heads, a safari scene and sights of wild animals including hippos and a python. What is a refined Deity like Ganesha doing in such a place? Most Hindus I spoke with actually liked seeing Him there. It was a touch of their own culture to this masterminded, worldclass Mecca of entertainment. What about non-Hindu Americans? Their response was typically, "Oh, it's interesting," but nothing offered for or against it. More controversial is Ganesha's appearance in the breath-taking Indiana Jones ride, opened in 1995. The theme of the ride is essentially the story of a Hindu temple uncovered in the jungle by Western archaeologists, who also discover its secret of wealth and its curse. The entrance of the ride is a temple-like structure, not unlike Mahabalipuram, in South India, though old and crumbling. Snaking through the hour-long wait in line, I wound through the outside area where Hindu-looking Deities carved of stone (or cast in concrete) appear to have been removed from the temple and are being packed for shipping. Shipping where? One can conjecture they are enroute to museums or to those art dealers who pirate and sell fine sculptures from Hindu temples for hefty, selfish profits. Tall towers with Naga faces and the Naga theme are seen everywhere. Exiting the six-minute action ride, with its wild bumping and careening in a jeep-like vehicle, one is confronted with another statue of Lord Ganesha on a cart [photo above]. He is surrounded by ordinary paraphernalia of excavation and crates, treated like a piece of archeological merchandise. Views differed according to the emotional nature of the onlooker. To some people, the entire theme is the rape of a Hindu temple, as offensive as the original "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" movie upon which the ride is based, which grossly misrepresented the Hindu Goddess Kali, the Hindu culture, even the Hindu cuisine and eating habits. People I saw coming out of the ride were engrossed in what they saw inside or eager to go on to the next attraction. Most didn't even notice the third Ganesha statue situated outside. Hindus, however, rarely miss it. The general consensus of those I spoke with was, "It may not be offensive, but the West needs to be educated. Once they know the significance of our Deity, they will be more careful about using it in places like this." Others, such as Ravi Peruman of California, were incensed at the disrespectful treatment. Shekhar Ganapathy and Shobha Narayan, a young couple from Mumbai, were distressed by the overall temple piracy theme. "No comment," was all John McClintock, senior public relations officer for Disney, offered when questioned about Ganesha. He did say, however, that there are no other religious icons of any faith in the park; even the park's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" cathedral set is devoid of Christian symbols. Swami Atmarupananda, head of the Vedanta Society in San Diego, advised, "Hindus, especially those who are born into the religion, tend to have a let-go attitude in such situations. But if we do not stand up for the sacredness of our Deities, who will? If the connotation of where the Ganesha is situated goes against our beliefs and modes of worship, then we have to tell them about it. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From gulaniu@pacbell.net Wed Jan 8 00:27:11 1997 Message-ID: <32D28792.5C2B@pacbell.net> Date: Tue, 07 Jan 1997 09:27:46 -0800 From: UMA GULANI X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02E (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Disneyland References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Ajay Shah wrote: > > Disneyland and the Statue of Lord Ganesha > > Background : > > 1. There are statues of Lord Ganesha, as decorative pieces in Disneyland > California (Temple of Doom Ride) > > 2. Recently, Disneyland has decided to remove the scdene where pirates > chase women after purchasing them (in the Pirates of the Carribean ride) > after some patrons complained that this ride was offensive to women. > > Objection : > > 1. No other religious symbols are depicted in Disneyland > > 2. The Hindu diety of Lord Ganesh is considered to be very auspecious by > 900 million Hindus. > > 3. The depiction of this diety in "Temple iof Doom" is an insult to all > the Hindus. > > Action : > > We are appreciateive of the sensitivity shown by Disneyland regarding > Pirates of Carribean ride. > > We protest the depiction of sacred Hindu symbols in indiscriminate > fashion. Disney should accord the Hindu dieties proper respect or remove > the dieties from the "Temple of Doom" > > Why, one may ask, has Disney isolated Hindu dharma for the insult. > > ----------------------------- > > My Note : Please respond as to HR Net and VHP/HSC and HSS should take this > issue up with Disney and press. > > Once I get opinions from people on this net, then I would like to form a > small committee representing HRNet, HSC, VHP and HSS, and then chalk out > a plan of action. > > The minimum plan for action would be a posting on all the newsgroup, > followed by a press release, and a special section on GHEN website. > > --------------------------------- > Here is a Hinduism Today Article > -------------------------------- > Here is a a backgroud article : Ganesha Graces Disneyland Is the Elephant > God getting due respect? By Archana Dongre, Los Angeles > > Spun out of the supremely creative imagination of Walt Disney, Mickey > Mouse is the central character of the fabled Disneyland. Although endowed > with human-like qualities, he is still a mouse, the vehicle of Lord > Ganesha since time immemorial. With this ironic coincidence, one might > wonder, does the God of abundance and the abode of all artistic genius > lurk somewhere in the sprawling 85-acre amusement park, casting his > benevolent grace on the more than half-billion pilgrims of joy that have > passed through the turnstiles of Disneyland since its doors opened in > 1955? He is indeed there--thrice, in fact--as I discovered during a > sweltering summer day's visit. But not all Hindus have been pleased with > His less than dignified circumstances. > > I found Him first along the Jungle Cruise ride in the form of a giant, > well-designed ten-foot grey stone statue, sitting royally since 1962 > against a backdrop of green tropical forest. A few minutes into the ride, > our guide erupted enthusiastically, "And now to your left you will see the > Hindu deity of ..." The ride is replete with rustic, even barbaric themes, > like cannibals dancing, a tribal selling human heads, a safari scene and > sights of wild animals including hippos and a python. > > What is a refined Deity like Ganesha doing in such a place? Most Hindus I > spoke with actually liked seeing Him there. It was a touch of their own > culture to this masterminded, worldclass Mecca of entertainment. What > about non-Hindu Americans? Their response was typically, "Oh, it's > interesting," but nothing offered for or against it. More controversial > is Ganesha's appearance in the breath-taking Indiana Jones ride, opened in > 1995. > > The theme of the ride is essentially the story of a Hindu temple > uncovered in the jungle by Western archaeologists, who also discover its > secret of wealth and its curse. The entrance of the ride is a temple-like > structure, not unlike Mahabalipuram, in South India, though old and > crumbling. Snaking through the hour-long wait in line, I wound through the > outside area where Hindu-looking Deities carved of stone (or cast in > concrete) appear to have been removed from the temple and are being packed > for shipping. > > Shipping where? One can conjecture they are enroute to > museums or to those art dealers who pirate and sell fine sculptures from > Hindu temples for hefty, selfish profits. Tall towers with Naga faces and > the Naga theme are seen everywhere. Exiting the six-minute action ride, > with its wild bumping and careening in a jeep-like vehicle, one is > confronted with another statue of Lord Ganesha on a cart [photo above]. He > is surrounded by ordinary paraphernalia of excavation and crates, treated > like a piece of archeological merchandise. Views differed according to > the emotional nature of the onlooker. > > To some people, the entire theme is the rape of a Hindu temple, as > offensive as the original "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" movie > upon which the ride is based, which grossly misrepresented the Hindu > Goddess Kali, the Hindu culture, even the Hindu cuisine and eating habits. > People I saw coming out of the ride were engrossed in what they saw inside > or eager to go on to the next attraction. Most didn't even notice the > third Ganesha statue situated outside. Hindus, however, rarely miss it. > > The general consensus of those I spoke with was, "It may not be offensive, > but the West needs to be educated. Once they know the significance of our > Deity, they will be more careful about using it in places like this." > Others, such as Ravi Peruman of California, were incensed at the > disrespectful treatment. Shekhar Ganapathy and Shobha Narayan, a young > couple from Mumbai, were distressed by the overall temple piracy theme. > "No comment," was all John McClintock, senior public relations officer for > Disney, offered when questioned about Ganesha. He did say, however, that > there are no other religious icons of any faith in the park; even the > park's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" cathedral set is devoid of Christian > symbols. > > Swami Atmarupananda, head of the Vedanta Society in San Diego, > advised, "Hindus, especially those who are born into the religion, tend to > have a let-go attitude in such situations. But if we do not stand up for > the sacredness of our Deities, who will? If the connotation of where the > Ganesha is situated goes against our beliefs and modes of worship, then we > have to tell them about it. > > Hello Ajay, I would strongly recommend to protest. The movie was sickkening enough. Now they come out with this. If we don't do anything about it how would they know that it is offensive to us. I would think they would have some kind of a research department before they decide to pick a theme like this. Uma Gulani _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Wed Jan 8 03:48:00 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 03:47:50 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970107234056_1392074867@emout12.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Disneyland X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 01/07/1997 Dear Ajay: Namaste. thnak you for bringing this to everyone's attention. It is clear that we must act and act decisively to bud this tendency of denigrating our religious and cultural iconds either through sheer ignorance and stupidity or by maleceous design. I suggest that you talk with Nand Kishoreji, form what ever commitee is required to be formed, inform all ethnic as well as local americna newspapers and take up the matter with the Disneyland. Please keep all of us posted, and let us know, how individually we can help. Thank you. Brotherly yours, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com Wed Jan 8 09:51:45 1997 From: nandsharma@lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) Date: Wed, 8 Jan 97 09:51:53 EST Message-Id: <9701081451.AA22303@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Original-From: nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Disneyland X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay: Within in last few days we have come across two issues that need our response One is the statue of Lord Ganesha portrayed in a disrespectful manner at Disneyland, as referred to in your mail here, and the other is the misleading and incorrect information about mutilation of women in India, a week or so ago. My view on the first issue is that we should write an official letter from VHP and HSC (perhaps tow separate letters) to the Disneyland public or customer relations office voicing our serious objections and giving a b brief background of how important and auspicious Lord Ganesha is to Hindus, and informing them that we are sending a press release on this issue to newspapers, and follow up with such a press release. If we can get temples and other Hindu organizations involved in either writing a joint or separate letters through the email network that would be even better, but we should not wait for them. We should have somebody draft the letter and the press release and circulate among few key people for quick comments before sending them. Please let me know how we can accomplish this. On the second issue, my thoughts are that we do not want to give a wide exposure to the letter with misleading info. written by the American woman (I do not recall her name) because I do not believe that her views are shared by most people. But we could respond by writing a letter to the editor of the newspaper where her original letter was published. I am interested in your views on how to handle this situation. I will try to call you this w weekend, please let me know your availability for a short phone conversation. Nand Kishore _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Shyam.R.Tiwari@scsnet.com Wed Jan 8 10:03:18 1997 Message-ID: From: "Tiwari, Shyam R." To: "'VHPALL'" Subject: Denigration of Sacred syllable Om Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 08:31:00 -0500 X-Mailer: Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.994.63 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaste! If you have already received this mail, please ignore.. GAP a clothing retailer has a perfume known as "Om". The description of the perfume reads something like ....a sensual musk...I went to one of their Atlanta stores in a mall and asked the store manager about it. The store manager Eric Joule told me that the person who came out with this product had visited a monastery in Bharat. He was so much influenced by the fragrance of burning incences sticks and chanting of Om that he decided to name his new perfume "Om". When I told him what I felt like, he gave me an 800 number to call and talk to somone about this. I called the number and talked to a lady named Cristen Rbson. She told me that while deciding on this name the store has conducted many interviews with people and asked them about the use of the word Om and people were comfortable with that. But still I decided to tell her what was wrong with the use of "Om" and Faxed her what Om stands for. Here are all the numbers please call them or whatever way you think we can protest this kind of abuse of Om. GAP customer Service 1-800-3337-899 Fax (415)872-6594 Ceo: Mr. Millard Drexler (415)952-4400 Regards Shyam Tiwari _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Wed Jan 8 14:54:37 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 14:54:30 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970108134520_1224503856@emout15.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Three issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 01/08/1997 Dear brothers and sisters: With reference to above, we have three issues to contend with. (1) Letter to the Editor in a Michigan paper (I beleive) regarding mutilation of women in India. (2) Dinsey's audacity of putting Ganeshji's statue in Temple of Doom etc. (3) Mail from Shyam Tiwari (Atlanta chapter) regarding fragrance named OM (you would have received his email by now). Nand Kishoreji and Ajay should get going on these and ask for help from all of us as needed. I like Nand Kishoreji's idea of getting temples involved in Lord Ganesha issue; same can be done with the OM issue. this will also work positively in our efforts to build rapport with temples. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Wed Jan 8 14:55:21 1997 Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:35:24 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Denigration of Sacred syllable Om In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, Thanks for the information. IMHO, we ought to concentrate our resources on one issue at a time. Since Disney issue is currently in all the mainstream media, we ought to pick it up first, and keep this issue in our mind. At the first opportune moment we should take this issue up. regards, ajay On Wed, 8 Jan 1997, Tiwari, Shyam R. wrote: > Namaste! > > If you have already received this mail, please ignore.. > GAP a clothing retailer has a perfume known as "Om". The description of > the perfume reads something like ....a sensual musk...I went to one of > their Atlanta stores in a mall and asked the store manager about it. The > store manager Eric Joule told me that the person who came out with this > product had visited a monastery in Bharat. He was so much influenced by > the fragrance of burning incences sticks and chanting of Om that he > decided to name his new perfume "Om". When I told him what I felt like, > he gave me an 800 number to call and talk to somone about this. I called > the number and talked to a lady named Cristen Rbson. She told me that > while deciding on this name the store has conducted many interviews with > people and asked them about the use of the word Om and people were > comfortable with that. But still I decided to tell her what was wrong > with the use of "Om" and Faxed her what Om stands for. > > Here are all the numbers please call them or whatever way you think we > can protest this kind of abuse of Om. > GAP customer Service 1-800-3337-899 > Fax (415)872-6594 > > Ceo: Mr. Millard Drexler > (415)952-4400 > > Regards > > Shyam Tiwari > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From meghani@umich.edu Wed Jan 8 15:49:31 1997 Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 15:49:58 -0500 (EST) From: Mihir Meghani X-Sender: meghani@galaxian.rs.itd.umich.edu To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Denigration of Sacred syllable Om In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I agree with Ajay to focus on one issue at a time. HSC's Community Action Network (CAN) was created for this purpose. I think that separate pres releases from VHP and HSC should go out. Official letters from both should also go to Disneyland. Gaurang uncle, Anand Bemra, and Sharmaji have the press release list maintained by HSC. However, now we have an even more updated list which Sumir Meghani can provide (smeghani@envirolink.org). I will be out of town from tomorrow AM until Tues pm so I may be unable to actively be in this until then. However, if I need to be in any conversation on the phone then please leave a message at my house 810-788-9492 and I will get back to you. Sorry I cannot afford a beeper! Thanks, Love, Mihir _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Wed Jan 8 23:47:53 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 23:47:51 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970108234342_746083832@emout12.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Denigration of Sacred syllable Om X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 1/8/1997 Dear Mihir: Thanks for the info. Nand Kishoreji and Ajay are on top of this. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Thu Jan 9 00:49:24 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 00:49:23 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970108234127_171964531@emout18.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Denigration of Sacred syllable Om X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 yes, I agree in principle but just wondering if we could divide the issues between VHP, HSS and HSC? Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Thu Jan 9 03:42:13 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 03:42:20 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970109033941_578372935@emout13.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org, HHParikh@aol.com Subject: Welcome to Abhaya Asthana.. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 61 Prospect Ave., Edison, NJ 08817 (908) 393-0183 vicharak@aol.com Communication #05 January 09, 1996 Dear Governing Council members and Chapter Presidents: Namaskaar from Gaurang. I hope this finds you in very good health and ready to go to achieve goals that we all have set for VHP of America. You have received a communication from Yash Palji regarding appointment of Dr. Abhaya Asthana as the Joint General Secretary. I would like to welcome Abhayaji in the Executive Board and assure you of dynamic leadership from him. Abhayaji has been active with VHP of America for more than 10 years and has been a member of the Governing Council for several years. He has only recently moved to Boston area from Central New Jersey. Abhayaji has been heavily involved with Youth Camps, Youth Conferences and Bal Vihars. He is a creative man with a few words and a lot of actions. His style of functioning is to take people along with him and take up the slack where and when needed. He is full of ideas and always ready to go the extra mile. Having worked with Abhayaji for a number of years, I have no doubt that this is an excellent choice for energizing the organization. It is obvious that Abhayaji will need your support and guidance. Communication is a two way street and while Abhayaji is determined to help rebuild the organization and explore the frontiers of communication as well as paying special attention to newly elected and coopted younger members of the Governing Council, his efforts will bear good results only with your cooperation. Please feel free to contact him at 617-876-2162 or at mhaa@mvjok.mv.lucent.com. Abhayaji will be looking after many of the areas of organizational work that I have been involved with, so you should not hesitate to call upon him in place of myself. You can also send him your suggestions to strengthen our base and further our aims and objectives. Abhayaji lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife Jaybahen who holds a Masters degree in Social Work and Counseling. Their daughter Shefali is in the second year at MIT and is an accomplished Bharat Natyam Dancer. Their sons Saurabh is in first year of college and Samir is in high school. Both are involved in Hindu cultural activities like playing Tabla and taking part in drama etc. Abhayaji is replacing Dr. Ajay Shah who has moved on to what started as an experiment in cyberspace and turned out to be more than a full time job of managing our presence on the Internet. Ajaybhai has been instrumental in almost single handedly creating what I would like to call an Internet empire of VHP of America and HSC. As you are aware, there is a temple site on the web, there is a Hindu Universe web site, web pages on VHP and Seva program, Support A child Project, Hindu Calendar etc. It was Ajaybhai's persistence that has made communication among the GC members by email possible. He was the one to clearly see the benefit of this tool and remained an ardent advocate of it until most of us understood and implemented what he was saying. It is a mammoth effort and I want to recognize Ajaybhai's timely contribution to VHP of America in this emerging field of communication. We all felt that Managing Internet site being a specialized area, Ajay Shah should be given all the facility to concentrate on it with undivided attention and thus came the idea of asking Abhayaji to assume the role of Jt. General Secretary. Ajay Shah also handed over reigns of Hindu Vishwa to Dr. Hemendra Acharya, another veteran on the Governing Council. Hemendrabhai is a studious thinker with excellent writing and editorial skills. He can be reached at 718-217-9145 during weekday evenings or at hacharya@faa.dot.gov. Ajaybhai will continue to guide Hemendrabhai and will write from time to time in his unique style. As of January 1, 1997, our office has moved from Berlin, CT to Houston, TX. In near future you will be notified of address, phone and fax numbers and email address of the same. Shree Virendra Parikh, National Treasurer will oversee the office management. This will allow Shree Ramesh Patel, Vice President, Seva to concentrate all his energies on promoting and expanding scope of Seva work (which includes Support A Child) here and in Bharat. You will thus see that we are moving forward; with competent members handling jobs of Internet coordination, Hindu Vishwa, Seva and Jt. General Secretaryship, office moving to Houston with a paid part-time help in an office building we should be able to impart dynamism to VHP of America. Brotherly Yours, Gaurang G. Vaishnav General Secretary p.s.: This is ent to most of the members by email. Please acknowledge the receipt. Only 18 members who do not have email are sent this by USPS. They are requested to get email services and let me know about it so that we can speed up the communication, reduce the expenses and save labor and time. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Thu Jan 9 03:43:03 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 03:43:10 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970109033033_945173694@emout14.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org, HHParikh@aol.com Subject: Welcome to Abhaya Asthana X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 61 Prospect Ave., Edison, NJ 08817 (908) 393-0183 vicharak@aol.com Communication #05 January 09, 1997 Dear Governing Council members and Chapter Presidents: Namaskaar from Gaurang. I hope this finds you in very good health and ready to go to achieve goals that we all have set for VHP of America. You have received a communication from Yash Palji regarding appointment of Dr. Abhaya Asthana as the Joint General Secretary. I would like to welcome Abhayaji in the Executive Board and assure you of dynamic leadership from him. Abhayaji has been active with VHP of America for more than 10 years and has been a member of the Governing Council for several years. He has only recently moved to Boston area from Central New Jersey. Abhayaji has been heavily involved with Youth Camps, Youth Conferences and Bal Vihars. He is a creative man with a few words and a lot of actions. His style of functioning is to take people along with him and take up the slack where and when needed. He is full of ideas and always ready to go the extra mile. Having worked with Abhayaji for a number of years, I have no doubt that this is an excellent choice for energizing the organization. It is obvious that Abhayaji will need your support and guidance. Communication is a two way street and while Abhayaji is determined to help rebuild the organization and explore the frontiers of communication as well as paying special attention to newly elected and coopted younger members of the Governing Council, his efforts will bear good results only with your cooperation. Please feel free to contact him at 617-876-2162 or at mhaa@mvjok.mv.lucent.com. Abhayaji will be looking after many of the areas of organizational work that I have been involved with, so you should not hesitate to call upon him in place of myself. You can also send him your suggestions to strengthen our base and further our aims and objectives. Abhayaji lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife Jaybahen who holds a Masters degree in Social Work and Counseling. Their daughter Shefali is in the second year at MIT and is an accomplished Bharat Natyam Dancer. Their sons Saurabh is in first year of college and Samir is in high school. Both are involved in Hindu cultural activities like playing Tabla and taking part in drama etc. Abhayaji is replacing Dr. Ajay Shah who has moved on to what started as an experiment in cyberspace and turned out to be more than a full time job of managing our presence on the Internet. Ajaybhai has been instrumental in almost single handedly creating what I would like to call an Internet empire of VHP of America and HSC. As you are aware, there is a temple site on the web, there is a Hindu Universe web site, web pages on VHP and Seva program, Support A child Project, Hindu Calendar etc. It was Ajaybhai's persistence that has made communication among the GC members by email possible. He was the one to clearly see the benefit of this tool and remained an ardent advocate of it until most of us understood and implemented what he was saying. It is a mammoth effort and I want to recognize Ajaybhai's timely contribution to VHP of America in this emerging field of communication. We all felt that Managing Internet site being a specialized area, Ajay Shah should be given all the facility to concentrate on it with undivided attention and thus came the idea of asking Abhayaji to assume the role of Jt. General Secretary. Ajay Shah also handed over reigns of Hindu Vishwa to Dr. Hemendra Acharya, another veteran on the Governing Council. Hemendrabhai is a studious thinker with excellent writing and editorial skills. He can be reached at 718-217-9145 during weekday evenings or at hacharya@faa.dot.gov. Ajaybhai will continue to guide Hemendrabhai and will write from time to time in his unique style. As of January 1, 1997, our office has moved from Berlin, CT to Houston, TX. In near future you will be notified of address, phone and fax numbers and email address of the same. Shree Virendra Parikh, National Treasurer will oversee the office management. This will allow Shree Ramesh Patel, Vice President, Seva to concentrate all his energies on promoting and expanding scope of Seva work (which includes Support A Child) here and in Bharat. You will thus see that we are moving forward; with competent members handling jobs of Internet coordination, Hindu Vishwa, Seva and Jt. General Secretaryship, office moving to Houston with a paid part-time help in an office building we should be able to impart dynamism to VHP of America. Brotherly Yours, Gaurang G. Vaishnav General Secretary p.s.: This is ent to most of the members by email. Please acknowledge the receipt. Only 18 members who do not have email are sent this by USPS. They are requested to get email services and let me know about it so that we can speed up the communication, reduce the expenses and save labor and time. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Thu Jan 9 06:19:40 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 06:19:47 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970109061947_1459383992@emout08.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org, mhaa@mvjok.mv.lucent.com Subject: Re: Welcome to Abhaya Asthana.. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Abhayaji: I am extremely hppy to know that you have accepted the responsibilty of Joint-General Secretary of VHPA. Since Ramesh patel was assigned the role of SEVA, we felt a need for replacement ver badly. Ajay has been strong on the inter-net front. Now with two proponents of internet, VHP net-working will be significantle improved. Are you in Boston on coming saturday, Jan 11. If yes, please call Madhu Jhaveri for a gathering at his home. Thanks & Regards Mahesh Mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Shyam.R.Tiwari@scsnet.com Thu Jan 9 09:38:30 1997 Message-ID: From: "Tiwari, Shyam R." To: "'VHPALL'" Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Three issues Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 09:32:00 -0500 X-Mailer: Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.994.63 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaste I think besides writing to the offending parties to voice our concern it would be a good idea to get community involved. We can submit petitions signed by people. This could have bigger impact. Regards Shyam Tiwari ---------- From: VICHARAK@aol.com To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Three issues Date: Wednesday, January 08, 1997 2:54PM 01/08/1997 Dear brothers and sisters: With reference to above, we have three issues to contend with. (1) Letter to the Editor in a Michigan paper (I beleive) regarding mutilation of women in India. (2) Dinsey's audacity of putting Ganeshji's statue in Temple of Doom etc. (3) Mail from Shyam Tiwari (Atlanta chapter) regarding fragrance named OM (you would have received his email by now). Nand Kishoreji and Ajay should get going on these and ask for help from all of us as needed. I like Nand Kishoreji's idea of getting temples involved in Lord Ganesha issue; same can be done with the OM issue. this will also work positively in our efforts to build rapport with temples. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajadeja@BayNetworks.COM Thu Jan 9 09:50:51 1997 Posted-Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 06:50:19 -0800 (PST) From: ajadeja@BayNetworks.COM (Ajit Jadeja 1042c) Message-Id: <199701091450.JAA22049@pobox.engeast.BayNetworks.COM> Subject: Re: Welcome to Abhaya Asthana.. To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 09:50:19 -0500 (EST) In-Reply-To: <970109033941_578372935@emout13.mail.aol.com> from "VICHARAK@aol.com" at Jan 9, 97 03:42:20 am X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL21] Content-Type: text X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 1/9/96 Gaurangji, Thanks for your e-mail. Now, that the office has moved from CT to Houston, can I still get a list of VHP members (in MA and NH) from Rameshbhai, or shall I contact Houston office. Ajit Jadeja > > 61 Prospect Ave., Edison, NJ 08817 (908) 393-0183 vicharak@aol.com > > Communication #05 > > January 09, 1996 > > Dear Governing Council members and Chapter Presidents: > > Namaskaar from Gaurang. I hope this finds you in very good health and ready > to go to achieve goals that we all have set for VHP of America. > > You have received a communication from Yash Palji regarding appointment of > Dr. Abhaya Asthana as the Joint General Secretary. I would like to welcome > Abhayaji in the Executive Board and assure you of dynamic leadership from > him. Abhayaji has been active with VHP of America for more than 10 years and > has been a member of the Governing Council for several years. He has only > recently moved to Boston area from Central New Jersey. Abhayaji has been > heavily involved with Youth Camps, Youth Conferences and Bal Vihars. He is a > creative man with a few words and a lot of actions. His style of functioning > is to take people along with him and take up the slack where and when needed. > He is full of ideas and always ready to go the extra mile. Having worked with > Abhayaji for a number of years, I have no doubt that this is an excellent > choice for energizing the organization. It is obvious that Abhayaji will need > your support and guidance. Communication is a two way street and while > Abhayaji is determined to help rebuild the organization and explore the > frontiers of communication as well as paying special attention to newly > elected and coopted younger members of the Governing Council, his efforts > will bear good results only with your cooperation. Please feel free to > contact him at 617-876-2162 or at mhaa@mvjok.mv.lucent.com. > Abhayaji will be looking after many of the areas of organizational work that > I have been involved with, so you should not hesitate to call upon him in > place of myself. You can also send him your suggestions to strengthen our > base and further our aims and objectives. > > Abhayaji lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife Jaybahen who holds a Masters > degree in Social Work and Counseling. Their daughter Shefali is in the second > year at MIT and is an accomplished Bharat Natyam Dancer. Their sons Saurabh > is in first year of college and Samir is in high school. Both are involved > in Hindu cultural activities like playing Tabla and taking part in drama etc. > > Abhayaji is replacing Dr. Ajay Shah who has moved on to what started as an > experiment in cyberspace and turned out to be more than a full time job of > managing our presence on the Internet. Ajaybhai has been instrumental in > almost single handedly creating what I would like to call an Internet empire > of VHP of America and HSC. As you are aware, there is a temple site on the > web, there is a Hindu Universe web site, web pages on VHP and Seva program, > Support A child Project, Hindu Calendar etc. It was Ajaybhai's persistence > that has made communication among the GC members by email possible. He was > the one to clearly see the benefit of this tool and remained an ardent > advocate of it until most of us understood and implemented what he was > saying. > > It is a mammoth effort and I want to recognize Ajaybhai's timely contribution > to VHP of America in this emerging field of communication. We all felt that > Managing Internet site being a specialized area, Ajay Shah should be given > all the facility to concentrate on it with undivided attention and thus came > the idea of asking Abhayaji to assume the role of Jt. General Secretary. > Ajay Shah also handed over reigns of Hindu Vishwa to Dr. Hemendra Acharya, > another veteran on the Governing Council. Hemendrabhai is a studious thinker > with excellent writing and editorial skills. He can be reached at > 718-217-9145 during weekday evenings or at hacharya@faa.dot.gov. Ajaybhai > will continue to guide Hemendrabhai and will write from time to time in his > unique style. > > As of January 1, 1997, our office has moved from Berlin, CT to Houston, TX. > In near future you will be notified of address, phone and fax numbers and > email address of the same. Shree Virendra Parikh, National Treasurer will > oversee the office management. This will allow Shree Ramesh Patel, Vice > President, Seva to concentrate all his energies on promoting and expanding > scope of Seva work (which includes Support A Child) here and in Bharat. > > You will thus see that we are moving forward; with competent members handling > jobs of Internet coordination, Hindu Vishwa, Seva and Jt. General > Secretaryship, office moving to Houston with a paid part-time help in an > office building we should be able to impart dynamism to VHP of America. > > Brotherly Yours, > > > > Gaurang G. Vaishnav > General Secretary > > p.s.: This is ent to most of the members by email. Please acknowledge the > receipt. Only 18 members who do not have email are sent this by USPS. They > are requested to get email services and let me know about it so that we can > speed up the communication, reduce the expenses and save labor and time. > > > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov Thu Jan 9 11:42:06 1997 X400-Received: by mta MTAdot1 in /c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; converted ( IA5-Text); Relayed; 09 Jan 1997 11:41:56 -0500 X400-Received: by /c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; converted ( IA5-Text); Relayed; 09 Jan 1997 11:41:56 -0500 X400-MTS-Identifier: [/c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; 0024232D51FD4745-MTAdot1] Content-Identifier: 0024232D51FD4745 Content-Return: Allowed X400-Content-Type: P2-1988 ( 22 ) Conversion: Allowed Original-Encoded-Information-Types: IA5-Text Priority: normal Disclose-Recipients: Prohibited Alternate-Recipient: Allowed X400-Originator: Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov X400-Recipients: non-disclosure; Message-Id: <0024232D51FD4745*/c=US/admd=ATTmail/prmd=gov+dot/o=faa/s=Acharya/g=Hemendra/@MHS> Date: 09 Jan 1997 11:41:56 -0500 From: Hemendra Acharya To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org (Return requested), Shyam.R.Tiwari@scsnet.com (Return requested) Subject: Re[2]: Potential Call For Action : Three issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Namaste. I agree whole heartedly with the call for action on all issues and will be happy to help. Om is a sacred symbol not to be trivilized as a name for a sensual gratification product. Hemendra ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Three issues Author: Shyam.R.Tiwari@scsnet.com at Internet Date: 1/9/97 9:42 AM Namaste I think besides writing to the offending parties to voice our concern it would be a good idea to get community involved. We can submit petitions signed by people. This could have bigger impact. Regards Shyam Tiwari ---------- From: VICHARAK@aol.com To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Three issues Date: Wednesday, January 08, 1997 2:54PM 01/08/1997 Dear brothers and sisters: With reference to above, we have three issues to contend with. (1) Letter to the Editor in a Michigan paper (I beleive) regarding mutilation of women in India. (2) Dinsey's audacity of putting Ganeshji's statue in Temple of Doom etc. (3) Mail from Shyam Tiwari (Atlanta chapter) regarding fragrance named OM (you would have received his email by now). Nand Kishoreji and Ajay should get going on these and ask for help from all of us as needed. I like Nand Kishoreji's idea of getting temples involved in Lord Ganesha issue; same can be done with the OM issue. this will also work positively in our efforts to build rapport with temples. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov Thu Jan 9 11:55:19 1997 X400-Received: by mta MTAdot1 in /c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; converted ( IA5-Text); Relayed; 09 Jan 1997 11:54:56 -0500 X400-Received: by /c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; converted ( IA5-Text); Relayed; 09 Jan 1997 11:54:56 -0500 X400-MTS-Identifier: [/c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; 0024232D522E07A3-MTAdot1] Content-Identifier: 0024232D522E07A3 Content-Return: Allowed X400-Content-Type: P2-1988 ( 22 ) Conversion: Allowed Original-Encoded-Information-Types: IA5-Text Priority: normal Disclose-Recipients: Prohibited Alternate-Recipient: Allowed X400-Originator: Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov X400-Recipients: non-disclosure; Message-Id: <0024232D522E07A3*/c=US/admd=ATTmail/prmd=gov+dot/o=faa/s=Acharya/g=Hemendra/@MHS> Date: 09 Jan 1997 11:54:56 -0500 From: Hemendra Acharya To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org (Return requested) (Receipt notification requested), VICHARAK@aol.com (Return requested) (Receipt notification requested) Return-Receipt-To: Hemendra Acharya Subject: Re[2]: Potential Call For Action : Three issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Namaste, I agree whole heartedly about making our views known effectively, but we should be vocal on all issues, not just one. We can utilize different members for different tasks. I suggest that if Nandkishoreji and Ajaybhai take the lead on it, then they should include, on the gcnet, name, address and phone number of all authorities approached on each of the three issues. That way, others can also individually write to the responsible authorities. It may be useful to contact a lawyer and explore the possibility of any legal redress. Finally, I suggest that the letter to the editor on mutilation of women be put on the net so that others can also write to the paper. There was a conference in November 1996 at Harvard University and the issue of violence against women was discussed. One of the participants presented data which showed that on the basis of population there is twice as much violence against women from their husbands or boyfriends in America than in India. This point can be emphasized in a letter of rebuttal to the Michigan paper. Hemendra Acharya ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Potential Call For Action : Three issues Author: VICHARAK@aol.com at Internet Date: 1/8/97 3:04 PM 01/08/1997 Dear brothers and sisters: With reference to above, we have three issues to contend with. (1) Letter to the Editor in a Michigan paper (I beleive) regarding mutilation of women in India. (2) Dinsey's audacity of putting Ganeshji's statue in Temple of Doom etc. (3) Mail from Shyam Tiwari (Atlanta chapter) regarding fragrance named OM (you would have received his email by now). Nand Kishoreji and Ajay should get going on these and ask for help from all of us as needed. I like Nand Kishoreji's idea of getting temples involved in Lord Ganesha issue; same can be done with the OM issue. this will also work positively in our efforts to build rapport with temples. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Jan 9 13:30:49 1997 Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 11:10:25 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Denigration of Sacred syllable Om In-Reply-To: <970108234127_171964531@emout18.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit IMHO, we ought to just take up one issue, take it to completion, with undivided focus. We will need all the resources we can get from all the organizations to do a creditable job on this issue. Especially considering that we do not really have an organizational frame work to take up an issue of this sort to begin with (none of the three organizations do). We will have to build up an organizational frame work, then develop a protocol to approach this and similar issues in future, figure out a way to get like-minded organizations together, along with some well known people, and then develop a means to publicize the issue. I would strongly suggest that VHP, HSC and HSS focus on just one issue at this time. Almost all successful activisms are result of single issue focus. Again, this is just my opinion, whatever everyone decides is fine with me. regards, ajay On Thu, 9 Jan 1997 VICHARAK@aol.com wrote: > yes, I agree in principle but just wondering if we could divide the issues > between VHP, HSS and HSC? > > Gaurang > > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From mhaa@mvjok.mv.lucent.com Thu Jan 9 17:51:56 1997 From: mhaa@mvjok.mv.lucent.com Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997 17:51:51 -0500 Message-Id: <9701092251.AA03960@mvjok.mv.lucent.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Welcome to Abhaya Asthana.. Content-Type: text X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Namaste, Many thanks for all the kind words. With best wishes to all for Makar Sankranti coming up next week. Regards, Abhaya Asthana _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Fri Jan 10 15:22:03 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 15:21:53 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970110152150_1174888430@emout20.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Welcome to Abhaya Asthana.. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 1/10/1997 Dear Ajitbhai: Nice to hear from you. I am still to send you (officially) nomination form though, you are already elected! You can probably get the list form Rameshbhai if you call him over next two weeks. After that, it will be Houston. Houston may take soe time to set up, so your best bet is to call Rameshbhai as soon as possible. (860-828-4360). Regards to Rakshabahen. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Sat Jan 11 16:51:42 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 16:51:48 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970111165148_1492652012@emout01.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Ietter of the president X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Yaspalji: _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Sat Jan 11 16:53:50 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 16:53:58 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970111165358_1857473267@emout03.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Ietter of the president X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Yashpalji: As suggested by you we should explore all the avenues of working relationship with Hinduism Today. The new format and contents of Hinduism Today are better oriented to our objectives. Regards Mahesh Mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From 75132.2437@CompuServe.COM Thu Jan 16 09:48:46 1997 Date: 16 Jan 97 09:47:01 EST From: "Harishkumar R. Patel" <75132.2437@CompuServe.COM> To: ALL WORKERS Subject: OFFICE MOVED TO HOUSTON Message-ID: <970116144700_75132.2437_FHI69-1@CompuServe.COM> X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 ATTENTION TO ALL WORKERS. VHP OFFICE MOVE TO HOUSTON, TX IS COMPLETE. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY : 1) All Membership related matters to be addressed to the new office 2) SEND " ALL" CHECKS TO THE FOLLOWING " new office" - ADDRESS. VHP OF AMERICA " KESHAV SMRUTI " 4018 WESTHOLLOW PARKWAY HOUSTON, TX 77082 Ramesh R. Patel _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Jan 16 15:27:57 1997 Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 13:06:50 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Some comments from the Temples Guestbook Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Here is a sampling of comments on our Temples Page: regards, ajay ps : if your local temple is missing from our list, please get the information tome. ------------------------------------- When I read about this site in India Post of December 27, 1996, I could not wait to access the site. I cannot express my joy. This is the greatest New Year gift I have ever received. Keep it up HSC and VHP. You have done a wonderful job. Congratulations. The Hindu community will always be proud of You, and also thankful to you. V. N. Sharma, Dublin, OH -------------------------------------- Something The Hindus Should Be Proud Of. Keep It Up. Selian Seenivasagam Kuala Lumpur, sl Malaysia ------------ Enjoyed the site; it's certainly a wealth of information. I'm a journalist fo r an Alaska daily, and I'd be interested in learning about resources that are pe rtinent to life in Alaska for Hindus, for a story I am writing. Eric Burkett, Aanchorage, AK ------------------------------------- This is a really a great site for whole Hindu Community living in USA or anywhere in this Universe. I would like to thanks VHP and all o ther people who put their efforts to make these sites. Naresh Gupta, Canoga Park, CA -------------------------- Thank you for putting together this wonderful sight. It was both informative and pleasurable to acquaint myself with this interesting religion. Gabriel Washam, Tulsa, OK --------------------------------- Very much delighted to see the facts boldly displayed about temples and histo ry in general. We are also interpreting Geeta in terms of Science at Manashakti, REST New Way Asharm Lonavla. Thanks Best regards , G S Kelkar Research Director. ------------------------------------ _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From 75132.2437@CompuServe.COM Fri Jan 17 10:26:58 1997 Date: 17 Jan 97 10:26:04 EST From: "Harishkumar R. Patel" <75132.2437@CompuServe.COM> To: VHP-WORKERS Subject: OFFICE PROCEDURE CHANGE Message-ID: <970117152603_75132.2437_FHI56-1@CompuServe.COM> X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 To; ALL WORKERS /CHAPTER PRESIDENTS PLEASE NOTE VHP MEMBERSHIP OFFICE IDS NOW AT HOUSTON, TX VHP OF AMERICA, INC. KESHAV SMRUTI 4018 WESTHOLLW PARKWAY HOUSTON, TX 77082 EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY : (1) ALL CHECKS SHOULD BE SENT TO ABOVE OFFICE. (2) INQUIRIES FOR MEMBERSHIP SERVICESLLIKE MEMBERSHIP LISTS, ADDRESS LABELS ETC.. TO BE SENT ABOVE Please avoid delays by following above simple instructions For reasons of surity kindly acknowledge receipt of this e-mail. Sincerely; Ramesh R. Patel _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From RAMSEWAK@msn.com Fri Jan 17 21:24:35 1997 Date: Sat, 18 Jan 97 02:07:17 UT From: "PUSHPA GOSWAMI" Message-Id: To: vhpgc-l@HINDUNET.ORG Subject: RE: OFFICE PROCEDURE CHANGE X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Harish Bhai received your massage regarding new address and procedures. Also ack. the receipt of you email. Thank you very much brotherly Ram Goswami ---------- From: Harishkumar R. Patel Sent: Friday, January 17, 1997 10:26 AM To: VHP-WORKERS Subject: OFFICE PROCEDURE CHANGE To; ALL WORKERS /CHAPTER PRESIDENTS PLEASE NOTE VHP MEMBERSHIP OFFICE IDS NOW AT HOUSTON, TX VHP OF AMERICA, INC. KESHAV SMRUTI 4018 WESTHOLLW PARKWAY HOUSTON, TX 77082 EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY : (1) ALL CHECKS SHOULD BE SENT TO ABOVE OFFICE. (2) INQUIRIES FOR MEMBERSHIP SERVICESLLIKE MEMBERSHIP LISTS, ADDRESS LABELS ETC.. TO BE SENT ABOVE Please avoid delays by following above simple instructions For reasons of surity kindly acknowledge receipt of this e-mail. Sincerely; Ramesh R. Patel _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Sat Jan 18 08:43:13 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 08:43:17 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970118084316_441358682@emout20.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: OFFICE PROCEDURE CHANGE X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Received your mail regerding change of VHP office address. Best Regards, Hasit _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From RAMSEWAK@msn.com Sun Jan 19 09:26:37 1997 Date: Sun, 19 Jan 97 14:27:53 UT From: "PUSHPA GOSWAMI" Message-Id: To: vhpgc-l@HINDUNET.ORG Subject: RE: OFFICE PROCEDURE CHANGE X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 ---------- From: PUSHPA GOSWAMI Sent: Friday, January 17, 1997 9:07 PM To: vhpgc-l@HINDUNET.ORG Subject: RE: OFFICE PROCEDURE CHANGE Dear Harish Bhai received your massage regarding new address and procedures. Also ack. the receipt of you email. Thank you very much brotherly Ram Goswami ---------- From: Harishkumar R. Patel Sent: Friday, January 17, 1997 10:26 AM To: VHP-WORKERS Subject: OFFICE PROCEDURE CHANGE To; ALL WORKERS /CHAPTER PRESIDENTS PLEASE NOTE VHP MEMBERSHIP OFFICE IDS NOW AT HOUSTON, TX VHP OF AMERICA, INC. KESHAV SMRUTI 4018 WESTHOLLW PARKWAY HOUSTON, TX 77082 EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY : (1) ALL CHECKS SHOULD BE SENT TO ABOVE OFFICE. (2) INQUIRIES FOR MEMBERSHIP SERVICESLLIKE MEMBERSHIP LISTS, ADDRESS LABELS ETC.. TO BE SENT ABOVE Please avoid delays by following above simple instructions For reasons of surity kindly acknowledge receipt of this e-mail. Sincerely; Ramesh R. Patel _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From 75132.2437@CompuServe.COM Sun Jan 19 12:07:03 1997 Date: 19 Jan 97 11:57:45 EST From: "Harishkumar R. Patel" <75132.2437@CompuServe.COM> To: vhp workers Subject: NOTE: ADDRESS CORRECTION _ VHP NATIONAL OFFICE Message-ID: <970119165744_75132.2437_FHI32-1@CompuServe.COM> X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 VHP WORKERS Sorry for the double mailing - Please update the VHP NATIONAL OFFICE MAILING ADDRESS AS FOLLOWS: PLEASE NOTE: THE VHP NATIONAL OFFICE HAS MOVED TO HOUSTON , TEXAS: VHP OF AMERICA, INC. P.O. Box 441505 HOUSTON, TX 77244-1505 Phone: (281)-496-5676 Fax: ****We will follow up as soon as the fax number is available**** Please msend ALL VHP MEMBERSHIP related materials and inquiries to the address above. Send all membership checks directly to the membership office above. Send membership List requests such as: Membership Lists Current & Lapsed Members For your Region Address Labels for VHP related mailings for your state or region etc. PLEASE AVOID DELAYS BY SENDING ALL MEMBERSHIP CORRESPONDENCE AND MONEYS DIRECTLY TO ABOVE ADDRESS. Sincerely, RAMESH R. PATEL _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Sun Jan 19 14:41:34 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 14:41:57 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970119144156_816267924@emout16.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NOTE: ADDRESS CORRECTION _ VHP NATIONAL OFFICE X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Received your correction for vhp office. Best Regards, Hasit _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From gulaniu@pacbell.net Sun Jan 19 18:40:56 1997 Message-ID: <32E2B13E.20EA@pacbell.net> Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 15:41:50 -0800 From: Uma Gulaniu X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02E (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NOTE: ADDRESS CORRECTION _ VHP NATIONAL OFFICE References: <970119165744_75132.2437_FHI32-1@CompuServe.COM> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Harishkumar R. Patel wrote: > > VHP WORKERS > > Sorry for the double mailing - Please update the VHP NATIONAL OFFICE MAILING > ADDRESS AS FOLLOWS: > > PLEASE NOTE: THE VHP NATIONAL OFFICE HAS MOVED TO HOUSTON , TEXAS: > > VHP OF AMERICA, INC. > P.O. Box 441505 > HOUSTON, TX 77244-1505 > > Phone: (281)-496-5676 > > Fax: ****We will follow up as soon as the fax number is available**** > > Please msend ALL VHP MEMBERSHIP related materials and inquiries to the address > above. > Send all membership checks directly to the membership office above. > Send membership List requests such as: > > Membership Lists Current & Lapsed Members For your Region > Address Labels for VHP related mailings for your state or region etc. > > PLEASE AVOID DELAYS BY SENDING ALL MEMBERSHIP CORRESPONDENCE AND MONEYS DIRECTLY > TO ABOVE ADDRESS. > > Sincerely, > > RAMESH R. PATEL > > Noted new VHP address. Thanks Uma Gulani > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Mon Jan 20 10:44:12 1997 Message-ID: Date: 20 Jan 1997 07:41:42 -0800 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: NOTE: ADDRESS CORRECTIO To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Received VHP new address Regards Babu Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 1/19/97 11:57 AM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Received your correction for vhp office. Best Regards, Hasit _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;19 Jan 1997 11:50:53 -0800 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Sun, 19 Jan 97 11:43:52 -0800 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.4/8.6.9) id OAA07114; Sun, 19 Jan 1997 14:41:36 -0500 (EST) From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 14:41:57 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970119144156_816267924@emout16.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NOTE: ADDRESS CORRECTION _ VHP NATIONAL OFFICE X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Tue Jan 21 12:54:52 1997 Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 10:33:46 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: FYI : The Hindu Universe his NetGuide Gold Award Winner Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The following is from the NetGuide, one of the premier print and elecronic publication. This was sent as a mail to us : Thanks for the great job everyone in GHEN team is doing. regards, ajay ----------------------- Dear Web Site Developer: Congratulations! NetGuide has selected your site as a Gold Site -- one of the best on the Web. The Gold Award recognizes Web sites that meet our stringent criteria for overall excellence. To learn more about NetGuide, visit us at http://www.netguide.com. NetGuide has screened over 100,000 URLs and reviewed more than 50,000 sites and our Gold Award goes to only 15,000 of the Web's best sites. ------------------- _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From YLakra@aol.com Sat Jan 25 19:45:37 1997 From: YLakra@aol.com Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 19:45:23 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970125194521_539278072@emout17.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: OFFICE MOVED TO HOUSTON X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 congratulations on making the move. I wish you success at the new office. Yash Pal Lakra. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri Jan 31 18:28:18 1997 Date: Fri, 31 Jan 1997 16:07:14 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Request Help in Answering Questions Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, With the website now in place, we get quite a few questions from people who want to know more about VHP or Hindu dharma. May I request 3 people from VHP-GC to volunteer to answer these questions? One person can answer all the VHP related questions (Seva, Support-A-Child, VHP-A etc), and second for Hindu dhrama related questions. The third person will be back-up and "all other questions" category, including responding to all the general messages that we get. Correspondence will be through e-mail only. We plan to promote Support-A-Child heavily in the coming months. So, earlier this mechanism is in place, the better. I will appreciate any help you can render in this task, regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From RAMSEWAK@msn.com Sat Feb 1 00:15:33 1997 Date: Sat, 1 Feb 97 04:08:43 UT From: "PUSHPA GOSWAMI" Message-Id: To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: RE: Request Help in Answering Questions X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay Bhai, I will be more than happy to work and help in any field you need help. Support A child is my pet project in Michigan and we always have Susheem Bhai for our fund raising function. The number of children being supported from Michigan speak for itself. Write back to me if you need help. Looking forward to hearing from you. Pushpa Goswami ---------- From: Ajay Shah Sent: Friday, January 31, 1997 6:07 PM To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Request Help in Answering Questions Namaskar, With the website now in place, we get quite a few questions from people who want to know more about VHP or Hindu dharma. May I request 3 people from VHP-GC to volunteer to answer these questions? One person can answer all the VHP related questions (Seva, Support-A-Child, VHP-A etc), and second for Hindu dhrama related questions. The third person will be back-up and "all other questions" category, including responding to all the general messages that we get. Correspondence will be through e-mail only. We plan to promote Support-A-Child heavily in the coming months. So, earlier this mechanism is in place, the better. I will appreciate any help you can render in this task, regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sat Feb 1 19:16:01 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sat, 1 Feb 1997 19:16:30 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970201191630_1626200652@emout16.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Hindu Vishwa April and July issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 February 01, 1997 Dear Sarvashree: Namaste. Hindu Vishwa issue of January, prepared by new Editor, Dr. Hemendra Acharya is out and you should be receiving it in next twotot three weeks. For the next issue, (dead line 2/20), Hemendrabhai would like to include 'Upcoming activities of chapters". Please send details of proposed activities, with name/phone # of contact person to him at hemendra.acharya@faa.dot.gov Your help will be greatly appreciated by Hemendrabhai. Also, for July issue, which will be a special 50th Independence issue, Hemendrabhai is seeking articles and appropriate material. Please contribute to this issue; also, if your chapter is planning to celebrate the Independence Day (and I am sure, you would be), let Hemendrabhai know of the details. Thanks a lot. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Mon Feb 3 19:48:20 1997 Message-ID: Date: 3 Feb 1997 15:17:16 -0800 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: Request Help in Answeri To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajaybhai I will do my best for scriptural questions. Babubhai Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 2/1/97 4:56 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Dear Ajay Bhai, I will be more than happy to work and help in any field you need help. Support A child is my pet project in Michigan and we always have Susheem Bhai for our fund raising function. The number of children being supported from Michigan speak for itself. Write back to me if you need help. Looking forward to hearing from you. Pushpa Goswami ---------- From: Ajay Shah Sent: Friday, January 31, 1997 6:07 PM To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Request Help in Answering Questions Namaskar, With the website now in place, we get quite a few questions from people who want to know more about VHP or Hindu dharma. May I request 3 people from VHP-GC to volunteer to answer these questions? One person can answer all the VHP related questions (Seva, Support-A-Child, VHP-A etc), and second for Hindu dhrama related questions. The third person will be back-up and "all other questions" category, including responding to all the general messages that we get. Correspondence will be through e-mail only. We plan to promote Support-A-Child heavily in the coming months. So, earlier this mechanism is in place, the better. I will appreciate any help you can render in this task, regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;1 Feb 1997 16:42:40 -0800 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Fri, 31 Jan 97 21:15:08 -0800 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id AAA16780; Sat, 1 Feb 1997 00:15:36 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 1 Feb 97 04:08:43 UT From: "PUSHPA GOSWAMI" Message-Id: To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: RE: Request Help in Answering Questions X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov Mon Feb 3 20:17:38 1997 X400-Received: by mta MTAdot2 in /c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; converted ( IA5-Text); Relayed; 03 Feb 1997 20:15:35 -0500 X400-Received: by /c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; converted ( IA5-Text); Relayed; 03 Feb 1997 20:15:35 -0500 X400-MTS-Identifier: [/c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; 00EFF32F68DB7082-MTAdot2] Content-Identifier: 00EFF32F68DB7082 Content-Return: Allowed X400-Content-Type: P2-1988 ( 22 ) Conversion: Allowed Original-Encoded-Information-Types: IA5-Text Priority: normal Disclose-Recipients: Prohibited Alternate-Recipient: Allowed X400-Originator: Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov X400-Recipients: non-disclosure; Message-Id: <00EFF32F68DB7082*/c=US/admd=ATTmail/prmd=gov+dot/o=faa/s=Acharya/g=Hemendra/@MHS> Date: 03 Feb 1997 20:15:35 -0500 From: Hemendra Acharya To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org (Return requested), ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu (Return requested) Subject: Re: ANNOUNCEMENT : VHP GCNet Online Now! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 TO All VHP-A GC Members and Chapter Presidents & Secretaries: Namaskar. The latest issue of Hindu Vishwa will be in your hands during next two weeks. As a new editor, I would like to get your opinion on the new issue and particularly on the Editor's Perspective. One of the objectives of Hindu Vishwa is to inform others of Chapter Activities. I therefore urge all of you to always send me your flyers or communicate some other way with me about your activities. This way other chapters will know what you are doing, and if we list the upcoming activities of all chapters, then a casual reader will be immediately impressed with all the work that VHP-A is doing. This is to our advantage, as it will help enhance our image. So please send me a writeup on upcoming events by Feb.20, May 20, Aug.20, and Nov. 20 of each year. Thanks. In the future issues of Hindu Vishwa, I am interested in including articles that either explain Hindu Philosophy, or Way of life or explain our religious and cultural traditions. I will therefore request each of you to write at least one article a year for Hindu Vishwa. If you are hesitent about writing, just scribble some notes, and I will help you with it. If you come across such articles, please pass them on to me. In every issue, I would like to include two or three such articles and so I need quite a few. August 15, 1997 marks 50 years of Indian Independence, and so I would like to devote the entire issue of August 1997 to this subject. Alternatively, one or two articles about Indian Independence Movement, and related subjects can be published in each issue of Hindu Vishwa during 1997-1998. I would therefore like your help on this project in two ways: (1) Please let me know about any VHP-A activity in your area celebrating 50 years of Independence, This will include a description of the program, cosponsors etc and Text of speeches, if possible. (2) If you come across a good article or can write an article on what Indian Independence means, and what is our vision for the 21st century, please send it to me. I am interested to know your impressions of this issue of Hindu Vishwa and your suggestions, and comments for imprevements. I have requested many things to you but I can publish a good issue of Hindu Vishwa only if I have access to good articles that fulfill VHP-A's goals. Thanks for all your help. Hemendra Acharya ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT : VHP GCNet Online Now! Author: ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu at Internet Date: 12/5/96 9:30 PM Namaskar, I am pleased to announce that now there is a network exculsively for the VHP Governing Council Members and chapter coordinators. In order to communicate messages to all the GC members all you need to do is send a message to : vhpgc-l@hindunet.org And the message will be forwarded to all! May I suggest that we use this tool to communicate programs taking place around the country and our views on organizational matters only? If some people would like to circulate general news items, then we can set up (utilize) a separate list rather than using this forum, since all the subscribers may not be interested in non-organizational matters. Happy Networking . . . regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Shyam.R.Tiwari@scsnet.com Tue Feb 4 09:15:18 1997 Message-ID: From: "Tiwari, Shyam R." To: "'VHPALL'" Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 09:12:00 -0500 X-Mailer: Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.994.63 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaste Here is an article from the Times of India dated Feb 4, 1997. Hindu fundamentalism in U.S. growing: NRI By Vidyadhar Date The Times of India News Service MUMBAI: ``Hindu fundamentalism has grown rapidly in North America in the last few years. Students are being organised on the basis of religion. However, some secularists are strongly opposing this trend,'' according to Vinod Mubayi, a physicist working for the U.S. department of nuclear energy. Mr Mubayi, who hails from Mumbai, is active in promoting inter-religious understanding and harmony among Indian communities in the U.S. Mr Mubayi said there were two Hindu student councils in the U.S. in 1989. Now there are 54. The fundamentalists take advantage of the cultural vacuum in which the second generation of Indians in the U.S. have grown. This generation has grown away from the Indian milieu. It is difficult to organise youngsters around a Maharashtra mandal or a Gujarati sabha which the older generation of Indians in the U.S. set up. So, the fundamentalists are exploiting religion. They begin by organising classes teaching the Gita. ``The fundamentalists find new ways of collecting money and send it to India. They sought huge discounts from the major telephone company AT & T on the ground that the Indians were giving a huge business to the company,'' Mr Mubayi said. When some of us threatened to cancel our subscriptions and the company found that the issue was becoming a problem for their image, they backed out of the deal,'' Mr Mumbayi said. The fund collection drive became known when two groups among the fundamentalists levelled charges of misappropriation against each other. Mr Mubayi interacted with activists in Mumbai on Saturday at a meeting organised by the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism. He said a few groups like NRIs for secularism and democracy and FOIL (forum of Indian leftists) were actively opposing fundamentalism. The first group issued a paid statement in Indian newspapers, signed by 500 persons, deploring the demolition of Babri masjid. Most of these progressive people interact through Internet.``We are trying to project an alternative to the fundamentalist campaign,'' Mr Mubayi said. Computer engineer R.P. Singh, who died of cancer a few years ago, was one of the major activists in the campaign for secularism. A foundation formed in his memory was now helping secular causes and persons in need of financial help in India. ``When Asghar Ali Engineer, noted scholar came to the U.S. a few years ago, I got many calls from secular NRIs and his meetings were held in 16 cities in 28 days,'' Mr Mubayi said. Half of the taxi drivers in some areas in the U.S. were from the Indian sub-continent, found working there unsafe and they helped each other irrespective of religion. The fundamentalists had been working in the U.S. since 1970. They were taking advantage of the popular trend of encouraging multiculturalism in the U.S., Mr Mubayi said. Mr Mubayi said among the Muslims from India living in the U.S. some were secular and some fundamentalists. An engineer from IIT, Powai, had started offering Namaz five times a day and had suddenly become quite withdrawn. Mr Engineer said Indian Muslim fundamentalists in the U.S., much less resourceful than the Hindus, sent money for setting up a chain of madarassas, religious schools, mainly in Assam. The money was raised mostly in Chicago and Los Angeles. Regards Shyam Tiwari _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Tue Feb 4 15:13:16 1997 Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 12:52:06 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: VHP/HSC In India Today Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit January 31 issue of India Today (North America Edition) has year in review article. They have mentioned, growing influence of VHP-A and HSC in USA. This is thesecond time in as many months that India Today has mentioned us. That combined with the LA Times coverage, and Times Of India coverage once again proves that we are now gradually transitioning from the pages of ethnic media to the mainstream media. regards, ajay ps : Well, now we just have to live up to their expections :-) _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Pallod@aol.com Tue Feb 4 19:32:48 1997 From: Pallod@aol.com Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 19:32:59 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970204192753_-1643647598@emout16.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: ANNOUNCEMENT : VHP GCNet Online Now! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Hemendrabhai Namashkar, Beth Kulkarni has written 2 page article about Houston chapter. We will e-mail in 10 days. Keep up the good work. Hinduism Today has good article aout our web page in March issue. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Fri Feb 14 00:25:59 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 00:10:54 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970214001053_819632598@emout09.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Fwd: FWD>> Fw- Special Mess X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 2/12/1997 Dear GC mmebers: The attached is an important piece of information (courtesy: Jitendra Goel, President, Southern California chapter). Though it says February 13 as the deadline, please email your protest even if it is late. Brotherly, Gaurang --------------------- Forwarded message: From: Jitendra_Goel@qmail4.nba.TRW.COM (Jitendra Goel) To: gokula@aol.com (GOKUL Agarwalla), d.colonna@ieee.org (DOMINIC Colonna), priya.cratsley@fdc-tssg.com (PRIYA CRATSLEY), anurag.goel@att.com (Anurag Goel), ggoel@tcs.com (Gaurav Goel), kabir@cyberverse.com (Kabir Goyal), VGOYAL@aol.com (VIREN GOYAL), viren.goyal@usiny.mail.abb.com (Viren Goyal), gulaniu@pacbell.net (UMA GULANI), 103655.2733@compuserve.com (D.D. Khandelwal), sudesh.kumar@sandiegoca.ncr.com (sudesh kumar), vkumar@austin.ibm.com (Vandana Kumar), s.maas@ieee.org (Steve Maas), TejasMehta@aol.com (Tejas Mehta), harshpande@aol.com (HARSH PANDE), JShah.El_Segundo@xerox.com (Jawahar Shah), jyothi@primenet.com (Sherry), penumaka@isi.com (Srinivas), vicharak@aol.com (Gaurang Vaishnav), svishnu@mail.att.net (Sandeep Vishnu) Date: 97-02-12 19:54:13 EST Mail*Link(r) SMTP FWD>> Fw: Special Message - Possible Local... -------------------------------------- Date: 2/12/97 7:13 AM From: Steve Young FYI -------------------------------------- Date: 2/11/97 2:13 PM From: EAnderson@davd.com Please write a email letter to the address below. EA ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________ Subject: Fw: Special Message - Possible Local Telephone Interne Author: GSchmitz at Davidson-RAD Date: 2/11/97 1:36 PM ______________________________ Forward Header __________________________________ >> >> >Important to all of us, we cannot let this happen: >> > >> >I am writing you this to inform you of a very important matter >> >currently under review by the FCC. Your local telephone company has >> >filed a proposal with the FCC to impose per minute charges for your >> >internet service. They contend that your usage has or will hinder the >> >operation of the telephone network. >> > >> >It is my belief that internet usage will diminish if users were >> >required to pay additional per minute charges. The FCC has created an >> >email box for your comments, responses must be received by February >> >13, 1997. Send your comments to isp@fcc.gov and tell them what you >> >think. >> > >> >Every phone company is in on this one, and they are trying to sneak >> >it in just under the wire for litiagation. Let everyone you know hear >> >this one. Get the e-mail address to everyone you can think of. >> >isp@fcc.gov >> > >> >Please forward this email to all your friends on the internet so all >> >our voices may be heard! >> >> >> =================================================== > ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;11 Feb 1997 14:01:15 -0800 Received: from artemis.davd.com by mailhub1.trw.com; Tue, 11 Feb 97 14:05:45 -0800 Received: from hermes.davd.com (hermes.davd.com [198.147.119.24]) by artemis.davd.com (8.8.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id VAA22830; Tue, 11 Feb 1997 21:59:02 -0800 (PST) From: EAnderson@davd.com Received: from ccMail by hermes.davd.com (IMA Internet Exchange 2.1 Enterprise) id 0000FDBB; Tue, 11 Feb 97 13:58:29 -0800 Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 13:47:30 -0800 Message-ID: <0000FDBB.1320@davd.com> Return-receipt-to: EAnderson@davd.com Subject: Fw: Special Message - Possible Local Telephone Interne To: 0007597417@mcimail.com, a9jackson@aol.com, amedalc@snds.com, amedbsh@snds.com, amiri@sfsu.edu, amwilliams@ccgate.hac.com, au@compwr.com, bak@fortek.com, blgilbert@fielding.edu, brigette.fornis@trw.com, bsexy@tamu.edu, carl.conliffe@trw.com, cdreynolds@ccgate.hac.com, cgriffin@phx.mcd.mot.com, charles@mamacass.sp.trw.com, chisomh@baxter.com, cjupiter@cccd.edu, clmorris22@aol.com, Cooper_Krystal/edu_sb-supt-schools_roy-c-hill_is@eee.org, countblood@aol.com, david.porter@anderson.ucla.edu, DAVIS.GREGORY@SMA1.MCCLELLAN.AF.MIL, dionm@uci.edu, dmccray@cccis.com, dray@leland.Stanford.EDU, dtbonner@ccgate.hac.com, dtuitt@ix.netcom.com, dward@eng.morgan.edu, eddie_correa@es.xerox.com, eddief@themall.net, edward_tellis@beqm.sp.trw.com, ehines@bellmicro.com, esprings@scuacc.scu.edu, freemanr@mizar.usc.edu, fyreball@pacbell.net, gdewey@vais.net, GodChild1@aol.com, gt1876a@prism.gatech.edu, happy4ari@aol.com, hchiz@aol.com, HDBLACKMAN@asu.edu, HOLLOWAY@gate1.sbcc.cc.ca.us, holomatg@assembly.ca.gov, jam6jam@aol.com, january@clt.infi.net, jazz@voicenet.com, jdrayton@dolphin.upenn.edu, jhenders@eng.wayne.edu, jjones@ei.org, jnt895@aol.com, jsimbai@ball.com, jwilliam@ladc.lockheed.com, JWS5%Mkt%BayPen@go50.comp.pge.com, jzzynme@gnn.com, kjones@mail.arc.nasa.gov, KMILLS@corp.cuc.com, ksprings@sv.edelman.com, LaCherie.Watson@alliedsignal.com, lanab15@aol.com, ligonde@stripe.Colorado.EDU, luis_polanco@PTP.hp.com, luvmyday@earthlink.net, markeef@microsoft.com, Mike.Mo@worldnet.att.net, mlawton@stdntpop.lmu.edu, moni1913@aol.com, neroda@nv.doe.gov, norton@eci1.ucsb.edu, oglover@tti.com, overjoyd@leland.Stanford.EDU, raina.gilliam@trw.com Content-Description: cc:Mail note part _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Fri Feb 14 07:46:46 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 07:46:47 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970214074646_-1207227982@emout14.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org cc: isp@fcc.com Subject: Re: FWD>> Fw- Special Mess X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 I strongley protest new law requiring to pay per min charges for internet usage. I request all internet user to join in to protest and force FCC to withdraw. All telephone compnies also be told and must srongly protest against this passege, must be stopped immedieatly. Best Regards, hasit _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From p479@hopi.dtcc.edu Fri Feb 14 12:06:10 1997 Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 12:05:55 -0500 (EST) From: HARISH C PANDYA To: isp@fcc.gov cc: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Games played by local telephone co. Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Sir, Is there any way we can save us fron the rip off by local telephone companies. On one side our president want Internet to be available to every one in our nataion. On the other side the telephone companies want to ripo us off. Please do not allow them to add any more charges. They are already ripping us. Look what we paid 20 years ago and what we are paying now. Our income has not increased in that proportion. So please do not allow any increase of rates for Internet services. Thanks _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Shyam.R.Tiwari@scsnet.com Fri Feb 14 12:25:52 1997 Message-ID: From: "Tiwari, Shyam R." To: "'VHPALL'" Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 12:20:00 -0500 X-Mailer: Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.994.63 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaskar Bandhu Here is an article from New York Times. If US acts on it, in future this might have good implications for all the world religions. Regards Shyam Tiwari February 14, 1997 ON MY MIND / By A.M. ROSENTHAL Questions Unasked Why are Communist and militant Islamic dictatorships persecuting Christians? Why are Western democracies reacting so passively -- or not at all? What can be done to ease the repression? Every government knows Protestants and Catholics are persecuted in a score of countries. For trying to worship openly and as their religion teaches, Christians are arrested and tortured by the thousands -- and many killed. Among countries with the most vicious records is the one that the West courts most lustfully, China. Also on the list are American "allies" -- like Saudi Arabia, where U.S. troops helping the monarchy survive or American workers making it richer cannot worship openly or display symbols of their religion. Just this week, Reuters reported that 1,000 Pakistani Christian families were driven from their homes by Muslim rioters -- village looted and churches set afire. But the obvious questions above are never answered by Western governments and persons of power -- nor asked. The hounds of Heaven pursue with the answers. Dictatorships, for all their brutish swagger, are terrified by free thoughts and minds. They threaten the control without which dictators fear to govern. By definition, free worship is an enemy. Freedom of worship is proclaimed in international agreements on human rights. The West has eliminated the support of those rights as a foreign policy. The overriding policy, suffocating all others, now is trade. Freedom is not a menu. Democracies cannot convince dictators that political persecution is permissible but that it will struggle against religious persecution -- or the reverse. Dictatorships do have a human rights policy. Act against any variety of our oppressions and we will punish you with loss of trade. The West answers forthrightly: Yes, master. Much can be done to ease oppression, and not long ago was. During the Soviet empire, U.S. ambassadors and visiting officials regularly met in Moscow with dissidents. The oppressed knew, and so did the Kremlin, that they had a powerful ally. Beijing has cowed Americans into fleeing from Christians and others it imprisoned for crimes of the mind. The U.S., which denounced the Soviet gulag, now gives military honors to the killers of the Chinese gulag. The new U.S. policy of betrayal of religious and political rights was shaped by companies doing business with the dictatorships. They turned President Clinton right around -- his back now to his own promises. An American movement for persecuted Christians is just developing. An Administration advisory committee on religion met for the first time yesterday. Tremble, Beijing. Why has there been no powerful U.S. constituency for persecuted Christians as there was for Soviet dissidents and South African blacks? The answer is in our stars -- our business, political and intellectual leaders -- and in ourselves. American businessmen supported Soviet Jews and evangelicals when no big trade deals were at risk. Liberal American intellectuals and politicians also supported them -- and the boycott against apartheid. Now intellectuals and some religious organizations find the movement for Christian religious freedom too conservative on other matters; all together now, wrinkle noses. Do we really need a political litmus test for supporting religious freedom? Members of the movement for Christian oppressed tell of other problems. They say that Christians do not often enough see themselves in oppressed Christians far away, as a Jewish industrialist remembering the Holocaust might see something of himself in a persecuted Jewish sweeper in Yemen. And ministers in the movement are sometimes lectured that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Christian theology is not my specialization. I only know all prisoners for freedom are intertwined in their chains. Who can believe that their sufferings will not ease if the chairmen of Boeing, General Motors, Morgan Guaranty and Microsoft, and U.S. Presidents and secretaries of state past and present, rise to say that the altar must stand higher than the cash register, and pledge to make it so? And if they fail in their duty to do this, where is it written that the rest of us are absolved from doing ours? Home | Sections | Contents | Search | Forums | Help Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company ----------------------------------------------------------------------- - _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri Feb 14 14:12:30 1997 Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 11:50:44 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Fwd: FWD>> Fw- Special Mess In-Reply-To: <970214001053_819632598@emout09.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit This is what is called a "spam" or a worthless chain lettrer on internet. Please do ignore this message. Its only use is to create confusion and generate a lot of messages to the phone company (as arevange for something).... regards, ajay On Fri, 14 Feb 1997 VICHARAK@aol.com wrote: > 2/12/1997 > > Dear GC mmebers: > > The attached is an important piece of information (courtesy: Jitendra Goel, > President, Southern California chapter). Though it says February 13 as the > deadline, please email your protest even if it is late. > > Brotherly, > > Gaurang > --------------------- > Forwarded message: > From: Jitendra_Goel@qmail4.nba.TRW.COM (Jitendra Goel) > To: gokula@aol.com (GOKUL Agarwalla), d.colonna@ieee.org (DOMINIC Colonna), > priya.cratsley@fdc-tssg.com (PRIYA CRATSLEY), anurag.goel@att.com (Anurag > Goel), ggoel@tcs.com (Gaurav Goel), kabir@cyberverse.com (Kabir Goyal), > VGOYAL@aol.com (VIREN GOYAL), viren.goyal@usiny.mail.abb.com (Viren Goyal), > gulaniu@pacbell.net (UMA GULANI), 103655.2733@compuserve.com (D.D. > Khandelwal), sudesh.kumar@sandiegoca.ncr.com (sudesh kumar), > vkumar@austin.ibm.com (Vandana Kumar), s.maas@ieee.org (Steve Maas), > TejasMehta@aol.com (Tejas Mehta), harshpande@aol.com (HARSH PANDE), > JShah.El_Segundo@xerox.com (Jawahar Shah), jyothi@primenet.com (Sherry), > penumaka@isi.com (Srinivas), vicharak@aol.com (Gaurang Vaishnav), > svishnu@mail.att.net (Sandeep Vishnu) > Date: 97-02-12 19:54:13 EST > > Mail*Link(r) SMTP FWD>> Fw: Special Message - Possible > Local... > > > > -------------------------------------- > Date: 2/12/97 7:13 AM > From: Steve Young > FYI > > -------------------------------------- > Date: 2/11/97 2:13 PM > From: EAnderson@davd.com > > > Please write a email letter to the address below. > > EA > > ______________________________ Forward Header > __________________________________ > Subject: Fw: Special Message - Possible Local Telephone Interne > Author: GSchmitz at Davidson-RAD > Date: 2/11/97 1:36 PM > > > > > > ______________________________ Forward Header > __________________________________ > > >> > >> >Important to all of us, we cannot let this happen: > >> > > >> >I am writing you this to inform you of a very important matter > >> >currently under review by the FCC. Your local telephone company has > >> >filed a proposal with the FCC to impose per minute charges for your > >> >internet service. They contend that your usage has or will hinder the > >> >operation of the telephone network. > >> > > >> >It is my belief that internet usage will diminish if users were > >> >required to pay additional per minute charges. The FCC has created an > >> >email box for your comments, responses must be received by February > >> >13, 1997. Send your comments to isp@fcc.gov and tell them what you > >> >think. > >> > > >> >Every phone company is in on this one, and they are trying to sneak > >> >it in just under the wire for litiagation. Let everyone you know hear > >> >this one. Get the e-mail address to everyone you can think of. > >> >isp@fcc.gov > >> > > >> >Please forward this email to all your friends on the internet so all > >> >our voices may be heard! > >> > >> > >> =================================================== > > > > > ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ > Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;11 Feb 1997 14:01:15 -0800 > Received: from artemis.davd.com by mailhub1.trw.com; Tue, 11 Feb 97 14:05:45 > -0800 > Received: from hermes.davd.com (hermes.davd.com [198.147.119.24]) by > artemis.davd.com (8.8.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id VAA22830; Tue, 11 Feb 1997 > 21:59:02 -0800 (PST) > From: EAnderson@davd.com > Received: from ccMail by hermes.davd.com > (IMA Internet Exchange 2.1 Enterprise) id 0000FDBB; Tue, 11 Feb 97 13:58:29 > -0800 > Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 13:47:30 -0800 > Message-ID: <0000FDBB.1320@davd.com> > Return-receipt-to: EAnderson@davd.com > Subject: Fw: Special Message - Possible Local Telephone Interne > To: 0007597417@mcimail.com, > a9jackson@aol.com, > amedalc@snds.com, > amedbsh@snds.com, > amiri@sfsu.edu, > amwilliams@ccgate.hac.com, > au@compwr.com, > bak@fortek.com, > blgilbert@fielding.edu, > brigette.fornis@trw.com, > bsexy@tamu.edu, > carl.conliffe@trw.com, > cdreynolds@ccgate.hac.com, > cgriffin@phx.mcd.mot.com, > charles@mamacass.sp.trw.com, > chisomh@baxter.com, > cjupiter@cccd.edu, > clmorris22@aol.com, > Cooper_Krystal/edu_sb-supt-schools_roy-c-hill_is@eee.org, > countblood@aol.com, > david.porter@anderson.ucla.edu, > DAVIS.GREGORY@SMA1.MCCLELLAN.AF.MIL, > dionm@uci.edu, > dmccray@cccis.com, > dray@leland.Stanford.EDU, > dtbonner@ccgate.hac.com, > dtuitt@ix.netcom.com, > dward@eng.morgan.edu, > eddie_correa@es.xerox.com, > eddief@themall.net, > edward_tellis@beqm.sp.trw.com, > ehines@bellmicro.com, > esprings@scuacc.scu.edu, > freemanr@mizar.usc.edu, > fyreball@pacbell.net, > gdewey@vais.net, > GodChild1@aol.com, > gt1876a@prism.gatech.edu, > happy4ari@aol.com, > hchiz@aol.com, > HDBLACKMAN@asu.edu, > HOLLOWAY@gate1.sbcc.cc.ca.us, > holomatg@assembly.ca.gov, > jam6jam@aol.com, > january@clt.infi.net, > jazz@voicenet.com, > jdrayton@dolphin.upenn.edu, > jhenders@eng.wayne.edu, > jjones@ei.org, > jnt895@aol.com, > jsimbai@ball.com, > jwilliam@ladc.lockheed.com, > JWS5%Mkt%BayPen@go50.comp.pge.com, > jzzynme@gnn.com, > kjones@mail.arc.nasa.gov, > KMILLS@corp.cuc.com, > ksprings@sv.edelman.com, > LaCherie.Watson@alliedsignal.com, > lanab15@aol.com, > ligonde@stripe.Colorado.EDU, > luis_polanco@PTP.hp.com, > luvmyday@earthlink.net, > markeef@microsoft.com, > Mike.Mo@worldnet.att.net, > mlawton@stdntpop.lmu.edu, > moni1913@aol.com, > neroda@nv.doe.gov, > norton@eci1.ucsb.edu, > oglover@tti.com, > overjoyd@leland.Stanford.EDU, > raina.gilliam@trw.com > Content-Description: cc:Mail note part > > > > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Fri Feb 14 18:29:02 1997 Message-ID: Date: 14 Feb 1997 14:58:59 -0800 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: Fwd: FWD>> Fw- Spe To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay Please prepare to speak for five minutes at the wedding about Shreyas. Can you please inform G.C. members about Shreyas's wedding to Dr. Swati on 16Feb. on my behalf, thanks. Babubhai Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 2/14/97 1:35 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org This is what is called a "spam" or a worthless chain lettrer on internet. Please do ignore this message. Its only use is to create confusion and generate a lot of messages to the phone company (as arevange for something).... regards, ajay On Fri, 14 Feb 1997 VICHARAK@aol.com wrote: > 2/12/1997 > > Dear GC mmebers: > > The attached is an important piece of information (courtesy: Jitendra Goel, > President, Southern California chapter). Though it says February 13 as the > deadline, please email your protest even if it is late. > > Brotherly, > > Gaurang > --------------------- > Forwarded message: > From: Jitendra_Goel@qmail4.nba.TRW.COM (Jitendra Goel) > To: gokula@aol.com (GOKUL Agarwalla), d.colonna@ieee.org (DOMINIC Colonna), > priya.cratsley@fdc-tssg.com (PRIYA CRATSLEY), anurag.goel@att.com (Anurag > Goel), ggoel@tcs.com (Gaurav Goel), kabir@cyberverse.com (Kabir Goyal), > VGOYAL@aol.com (VIREN GOYAL), viren.goyal@usiny.mail.abb.com (Viren Goyal), > gulaniu@pacbell.net (UMA GULANI), 103655.2733@compuserve.com (D.D. > Khandelwal), sudesh.kumar@sandiegoca.ncr.com (sudesh kumar), > vkumar@austin.ibm.com (Vandana Kumar), s.maas@ieee.org (Steve Maas), > TejasMehta@aol.com (Tejas Mehta), harshpande@aol.com (HARSH PANDE), > JShah.El_Segundo@xerox.com (Jawahar Shah), jyothi@primenet.com (Sherry), > penumaka@isi.com (Srinivas), vicharak@aol.com (Gaurang Vaishnav), > svishnu@mail.att.net (Sandeep Vishnu) > Date: 97-02-12 19:54:13 EST > > Mail*Link(r) SMTP FWD>> Fw: Special Message - Possible > Local... > > > > -------------------------------------- > Date: 2/12/97 7:13 AM > From: Steve Young > FYI > > -------------------------------------- > Date: 2/11/97 2:13 PM > From: EAnderson@davd.com > > > Please write a email letter to the address below. > > EA > > ______________________________ Forward Header > __________________________________ > Subject: Fw: Special Message - Possible Local Telephone Interne > Author: GSchmitz at Davidson-RAD > Date: 2/11/97 1:36 PM > > > > > > ______________________________ Forward Header > __________________________________ > > >> > >> >Important to all of us, we cannot let this happen: > >> > > >> >I am writing you this to inform you of a very important matter > >> >currently under review by the FCC. Your local telephone company has > >> >filed a proposal with the FCC to impose per minute charges for your > >> >internet service. They contend that your usage has or will hinder the > >> >operation of the telephone network. > >> > > >> >It is my belief that internet usage will diminish if users were > >> >required to pay additional per minute charges. The FCC has created an > >> >email box for your comments, responses must be received by February > >> >13, 1997. Send your comments to isp@fcc.gov and tell them what you > >> >think. > >> > > >> >Every phone company is in on this one, and they are trying to sneak > >> >it in just under the wire for litiagation. Let everyone you know hear > >> >this one. Get the e-mail address to everyone you can think of. > >> >isp@fcc.gov > >> > > >> >Please forward this email to all your friends on the internet so all > >> >our voices may be heard! > >> > >> > >> =================================================== > > > > > ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ > Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;11 Feb 1997 14:01:15 -0800 > Received: from artemis.davd.com by mailhub1.trw.com; Tue, 11 Feb 97 14:05:45 > -0800 > Received: from hermes.davd.com (hermes.davd.com [198.147.119.24]) by > artemis.davd.com (8.8.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id VAA22830; Tue, 11 Feb 1997 > 21:59:02 -0800 (PST) > From: EAnderson@davd.com > Received: from ccMail by hermes.davd.com > (IMA Internet Exchange 2.1 Enterprise) id 0000FDBB; Tue, 11 Feb 97 13:58:29 > -0800 > Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 13:47:30 -0800 > Message-ID: <0000FDBB.1320@davd.com> > Return-receipt-to: EAnderson@davd.com > Subject: Fw: Special Message - Possible Local Telephone Interne > To: 0007597417@mcimail.com, > a9jackson@aol.com, > amedalc@snds.com, > amedbsh@snds.com, > amiri@sfsu.edu, > amwilliams@ccgate.hac.com, > au@compwr.com, > bak@fortek.com, > blgilbert@fielding.edu, > brigette.fornis@trw.com, > bsexy@tamu.edu, > carl.conliffe@trw.com, > cdreynolds@ccgate.hac.com, > cgriffin@phx.mcd.mot.com, > charles@mamacass.sp.trw.com, > chisomh@baxter.com, > cjupiter@cccd.edu, > clmorris22@aol.com, > Cooper_Krystal/edu_sb-supt-schools_roy-c-hill_is@eee.org, > countblood@aol.com, > david.porter@anderson.ucla.edu, > DAVIS.GREGORY@SMA1.MCCLELLAN.AF.MIL, > dionm@uci.edu, > dmccray@cccis.com, > dray@leland.Stanford.EDU, > dtbonner@ccgate.hac.com, > dtuitt@ix.netcom.com, > dward@eng.morgan.edu, > eddie_correa@es.xerox.com, > eddief@themall.net, > edward_tellis@beqm.sp.trw.com, > ehines@bellmicro.com, > esprings@scuacc.scu.edu, > freemanr@mizar.usc.edu, > fyreball@pacbell.net, > gdewey@vais.net, > GodChild1@aol.com, > gt1876a@prism.gatech.edu, > happy4ari@aol.com, > hchiz@aol.com, > HDBLACKMAN@asu.edu, > HOLLOWAY@gate1.sbcc.cc.ca.us, > holomatg@assembly.ca.gov, > jam6jam@aol.com, > january@clt.infi.net, > jazz@voicenet.com, > jdrayton@dolphin.upenn.edu, > jhenders@eng.wayne.edu, > jjones@ei.org, > jnt895@aol.com, > jsimbai@ball.com, > jwilliam@ladc.lockheed.com, > JWS5%Mkt%BayPen@go50.comp.pge.com, > jzzynme@gnn.com, > kjones@mail.arc.nasa.gov, > KMILLS@corp.cuc.com, > ksprings@sv.edelman.com, > LaCherie.Watson@alliedsignal.com, > lanab15@aol.com, > ligonde@stripe.Colorado.EDU, > luis_polanco@PTP.hp.com, > luvmyday@earthlink.net, > markeef@microsoft.com, > Mike.Mo@worldnet.att.net, > mlawton@stdntpop.lmu.edu, > moni1913@aol.com, > neroda@nv.doe.gov, > norton@eci1.ucsb.edu, > oglover@tti.com, > overjoyd@leland.Stanford.EDU, > raina.gilliam@trw.com > Content-Description: cc:Mail note part > > > > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;14 Feb 1997 11:26:59 -0800 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Fri, 14 Feb 97 11:18:26 -0800 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id OAA09031; Fri, 14 Feb 1997 14:12:34 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 11:50:44 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Fwd: FWD>> Fw- Special Mess In-Reply-To: <970214001053_819632598@emout09.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri Feb 14 20:15:35 1997 Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 17:53:57 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Cc: babu.gandhi@trw.com Subject: Wedding Bell From Shreyas and Swati Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit It is my distinct pleasure to inform the GC of VHP that Shreyas Gandhi, who is son of Babubhai Gandhi, a GC member and a key HSC volunteer in Southern California is getting married to Swati, who is a medical doctor from Bharat on Sunday Feb 16. Shreyas has a Masters degree in Electrial Eng., and is also working towards MBA. Babubhai, and his entire family are very active in all the Hindu and Bharat related activities in Southern California. Shreyas was the founding member of Cniversity of California - Irvine chapter, and taught Hindi and Gita while undergraduate student. On behalf of VHP and HSC family, I would like to extend a hearty congratulations to Shreyas and Swati as they embark upon this wonderful journey in life. E-mail compliments to Babubhai can be sent to : babu.gandhi@trw.com regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbando@lynx.dac.neu.edu Sat Feb 15 16:25:12 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199702152125.QAA25841@lynx.dac.neu.edu> Subject: Swamy China Jeer of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 16:25:30 -0500 (EST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org namaskar, I was wondering what is the view of Swamy China Jeer of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh on VHP/RSS. thanks.... Forwarded message: From daemon Sat Feb 15 16:22:07 1997 Message-Id: <3.0.32.19970215161918.007e9480@po9.mit.edu> X-Sender: asthagir@po9.mit.edu X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0 (32) Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 16:19:19 -0500 To: cbando@lynx.dac.neu.edu, cbanerj@annapurna.ccs.neu.edu From: Anand Asthagiri Subject: Swamy China Jeer of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I also received this mail... [all these people are responding via our home page to which we've had about 700 visitors!] >Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 19:21:01 -0500 >From: Tejaswi Raparla >Subject: Swamy China Jeer of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh >To: asthagir@MIT.EDU >Organization: World Bank >X-Url: http://www.mit.edu/activities/hsc/home.html > >-- >The World Bank, 1818 H St. NW, Washington DC 20433, U.S.A. >http://www.worldbank.org +1(202)477-1234 > > >I understand that Swamy China Jeer may be visiting USA this summer. He is >an authority on Bhagavad Gita and can give several lectures. He also >started a non profit org. in USA called JET ( I can provide email >address). Would your group be interested to invite him for lectures. His >travel from India would be covered by some other organization which is >inviting him. I can bear the costs from that place to your University. >You would really enjoy his lectures. I can provide some additional info. >There are some recorded lectures in English (I recorded when he visited >Washington D.C. in June). > >Regards > >Tejaswi > ______________________________________________________________________ Anand R. Asthagiri http://mit.edu/asthagir/www HOME: OFFICE: 143 Albany St. #209A Bldg 56-389, MIT Cambridge, MA 02139 Cambridge, MA 02139 (617)225-7146 (617)258-9488 Chandan cbando@lynx.neu.edu **************************************************************************** * "This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they * * alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive" * * - Vishwa Vivek * **************************************************************************** _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Tue Feb 18 05:18:06 1997 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 02:56:35 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Emergency - Out of Country Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Due to some family circumstances, which I just found out, I am leaving for Bharat in next four hours. If you have some work for me pending, my apologies, but I will get to it after I come back in next 2-2 1/2 weeks regards, ajay ps : please note that the Disney campaign is still on. If you have any further information, please send it to Nandkishor Sharmaji (I hope it's ok with him), and I will catch up as soon as I return _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From rvarma@stallion.jsums.edu Tue Feb 18 09:45:47 1997 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 08:47:32 -0600 (CST) From: Rajiv Varma To: VHP Governing Council Subject: Article by Vijay Parshad - "Culture Vultures" Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit The attached article is being sent to illustrate the mindset of Hindutva's opponents. This one specifically mentions VHP-A, and Hindutva work in the U.S. -Rajiv ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 18 Feb 97 15:50:53 EST From: Ashok V Chowgule Subject: Culture vultures Title : Culture vultures Author : Vijay Prashad Publication : Communalism Combat Date : February, 1997 On 11 June 1995, at a Satyanarayan temple in New York City, the New York shakha of the Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh held a Hindu Sangathan Diwas (Hindu Unity day). Dr.Yash Pal Lakra, president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), was the keynote speaker. The Sangh advertised the event with a quotation from Swami Vivekananda: "You are a Hindu when the distress of anyone bearing that name comes to your heart and makes you feel as if your own son were in distress." What "distresses" a group of professional Hindu migrants to the United States? For what must this group of Hindus be "united"? What does the VHPA do in America and what is the nature of the Hinduism imparted by its workers? These are not questions which this brief note can answer. Instead, I will offer an analysis of those Hindu migrants who take comfort in the withered arms of the VHPA. America turns to migrants from South Asia for their labour, not for their lives. In 1965, the United States revised its immigration laws to encourage technical and scientific experts to migrate and overhaul its scientific and military establishment. These migrants came for their expertise, not to make American society more diverse. On the contrary. America was at that moment emerging from a decade of racial struggle whose principal result was an illiberalism among whites towards 'racial' and cultural difference. The migrant from the subcontinent came to work hard and to uphold an economy which began to crumble under the weight of intensified military spending n the 1980s (during which time the US outspent the USSR in Cold war II). Each day, however, these migrants are assailed by a society unable to deal with people who speak with a different accent, who have different shades of skin, colour, who enjoy different music and food and who have their own ways of social interaction. In 1987, Navroze Mody was beaten to death during a spate of racial incidents in New Jersey. In 1994, a South Asian student was savagely attacked in Rhode Island because he played a Bhangra tape at a party. America enjoys the technical and manual labour of these subcontinental migrants, but America is unable to take the lives of these migrants into its heart. For this reason, the migrants search for ways to recover their own dignity as well as ways to protect their children from what they sometimes see as an overly hostile society. The new syndicated Hindu movement which began in the 1960s in India soon turned its eyes to North America and Britain. In North America, the VHPA was founded in 1970 to gradually spread to about 75 cities with a membership in the thousands. The VHPA is able to grow because it responded (perversely) to the contradictions of the, Hindu migrant. First, it offered a way for the migrants to reconstruct their dignity as a people with a great culture which is superior to American culture. The VHPA fought a bigoted culture with its own bigoted version: "if you say your culture is better, we'll say our culture is better." Rather than negotiate the weaknesses in all our cultural experiments, the VHPA reinforced the idea of the separation of 'Hindu' and 'America' and thereby further segregated the consciousness of the Hindu migrant from American society. For example, the VHPA encourages Hindu women to avoid professionalism, warns Hindu teenagers to eschew sexual and social relations with non-Hindu youth. Hindus are urged to five epic lives which serves as a mode of social control against the youth as well as against women. The youth are alienated from the re-sources which might help them to live in a multicultural nation and a complex world. Gandhi, in 1925, offered the best riposte to the VHPA's static idea of 'culture': "it is good to swim in the waters of tradition, but to sink in them is suicide." Tradition must build upon our contemporary contradictions not be a thing which we must wield dogmatically against our own collective interests. The second manner in which the VHP was able to draw support was by its offer to socialize the youth. American society is under attack from the rapaciousness of transnational capital which knows that it can sell whatever the market will bear regardless of ethics. Parents are fighting a defensive battle against the weight of these corporations. Hindu parents do not join in what should be a collective battle to reconstruct society along the lines of compassion; rather, many withdraw into Hindu enclaves where they send their children to VHPA summer camps to be trained in the way of the new syndicated Hindu Dharma. At these camps whose numbers are growing, the VHPA teaches the youth shlokas, stories from Epic literature, Hindi, yoga, bhajans, dance, and the rituals of a Brahmanical Hinduism. The VHPA sells these camps as cultural and, in fact, sells itself as a cultural organization. Of course, those who know of the activities of the VHP in the subcontinent (destroying the historical mosque at Ayodhya and participating in sectarian violence) know that they do not simply do cultural work. At the Tenth Hindu Conference in New York City in 1984, a resolution urged "all the Hindus of the world - back home and abroad - to act in a broad and nationalistic manner rising above their personal beliefs and creeds, parochial languages, and provincial and sectarian considerations such as Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamilian, Telugu, Bengali, Jains, Sikhs, etc." The VHPA offers the Hindu (and Sikh and Jain!) migrant an easy task: give money for work in India, to help those Hindus who are in "distress". The money rolls in (the VHPA does not reveal the amounts). Biju Mathew, editor of Sanskriti, a secular and democratic journal published in New York City, estimates that the minimum "saffron dollars" sent to India between January 1992 and December 1993 was Rupees 12.5 million. The money travels to do 'good work', which, to those of us who have some idea of the VHP in India, means towards such activities as purchasing conversions, engineering sectarian conflicts and funding political candidates. The VHPA asks American Hindus to be nationalistic: that nationalism, however, allows the migrant to be innocent as the VHP takes their devotion ("saffron dollars") and puts it to work in the imaginary homeland (India) where people are not comforted by Hinduism, but where they are slaughtered in its name. The tragedy of the Hindu migrants is their inability to reconstruct their traditions to suit a difficult context. America is, of course, not all bad. There are many who try to fight against bigotry and injustice, but they are an ignored minority. There are those subcontinentals who found organisations to help the migrant recover dignity and to help the 'accidental Americans'(their children) find a comfortable place in America. These groups such as FOIL (Forum, Concerned South Asians, SAKHI) shun the bigotry of the VHPA in favour of an egalitarian world which must be built in our image. Those of us who migrate here from India are Indians whatever we do and in our cultural kit, things Indian remain. Indian Americans must draw from our various cultural resources in order to produce philosophies adequate to our concrete problems. That is the purpose of culture: as a resource of hope, not a weapon for self-flagellation. (The writer is assistant professor of International Studies, Trinity College, Hartford, and a member of the Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL), USA _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From bbg@mdc.net Tue Feb 18 20:07:13 1997 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 19:55:28 -0500 Message-Id: <199702190055.TAA09190@netway1.mdc.net> X-Sender: bbg@mail.mdc.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From: "Brij B. Garg" Subject: Please take care when addressing your message X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear GC Member, Kindly consider the following cautions: (1) Please avoid using the Cc: field when sending the mail to vhpgc-l@hindunet.org By just using the To: field, you avoid leaking out the net address. You can certainly send the same message to others via a separate email. (2) When sending mail, if it does not concern all the GC memebers, then please address it to the individual member's email address. (3) When forwarding email to GC members, it will be nice if you can edit the unnecessary characters from the stuff you are forwarding (obviously, you may want to save the references etc.). Thank you for using this resource thoughtfully. Brotherly yours, -Brij _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbando@lynx.dac.neu.edu Wed Feb 19 00:50:37 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199702190551.AAA02626@lynx.dac.neu.edu> Subject: Info Needed:Swamy China Jeer of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 00:51:01 -0500 (EST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org NAMASKAR EVERYONE, I was wondering if any of you could tell me the view of Swamy China Jeer of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh on VHP/RSS. It'd be very helpful if you could provide some info about thie Swami, if you had any. thanks a lot.... Chandan cbando@lynx.neu.edu **************************************************************************** * "This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they * * alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive" * * - Vishwa Vivek * **************************************************************************** _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Shyam.R.Tiwari@scsnet.com Thu Feb 20 11:25:43 1997 Message-ID: From: "Tiwari, Shyam R." To: "'VHPALL'" Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 11:24:00 -0500 X-Mailer: Microsoft Exchange Server Internet Mail Connector Version 4.0.994.63 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namste Here is an Article from NYTimes February 20, 1997 Canada's Torn Sikhs: In a Holy Place, Unholy Rage By ANTHONY DePALMA SURREY, British Columbia -- Chairs and tables are lined up on one side of the big community room at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple and long red floor mats on the other. Members of the temple eat their post-prayer meals of lentils and flat bread in silence, some sitting on chairs, others cross-legged on mats. But not long ago, this same Sikh temple across the street from a McDonald's Restaurant in this suburb about 20 miles southeast of Vancouver was the scene of a violent confrontation that many here interpreted as an extension of old religious disputes to life in a new world. Deeply orthodox members of the temple reportedly lashed angrily at other members with knives, clubs and ceremonial swords, slicing through one man's ear, dislocating an executive committee member's arm, smashing a teen-age girl over the head and stabbing a man in the side -- all because of a dispute over whether the Sikh Code of Conduct requires members to sit on floor mats or allows them to use chairs. Or was it? "This is not a table and chair issue," said Harmohinder Singh Bains, a brawny 38-year-old member of the temple. "The whole thing is about power, ego and money." Bains, who is clean shaven and wears gray cowboy boots, is what is known as a "lightly burdened" Sikh -- that is, he does not wear a turban or let his beard and hair grow uncut. Sikhism is a religion that arose in the Punjab region of India from the teachings of a 15th-century guru named Nanak, who laid down its tenets of equality, monotheism and self-restraint. Interpreting those ideas and the Code of Conduct is left up to each community. This has been a source of endless conflict both in the Punjab and in the many new places where Sikhs live. Bains belongs to the faction of reform-minded Sikhs who in December 1995 wrested control of the temple -- one of the largest in Canada -- and its $1 million a year in contributions from an executive committee dominated by orthodox Sikhs that had been in power for more than a decade. "The Western media refer to them as fundamentalists but really they are just hooligans out to cause trouble," Bains said. But the president of the committee until the last election, Piara Singh Natt, a trucking company executive, bristles at the term "fundamentalist." "Is it fundamentalism to adhere strictly to what we are told to do by the highest authorities in Sikhism?" Natt said in an interview. Since the confrontation at the temple, Natt has stayed away, preferring to listen to services on the radio while praying in his spacious home several miles away. He wears his hair and beard long, and in the middle of an interview at home he unbuttoned his shirt to show the small brass and steel dagger called a kirpan that he, like many devout Sikhs, wears every minute of the day, even while he sleeps, as a symbol of readiness to defend the faith. "This was a very unfortunate incident," Natt said of the clash over chairs and mats. "Yes, people were slashed. But not with swords. And not with kirpan. They used utensils from the kitchen." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had to break up the fight. They arrested five Sikhs for assault and attempted murder and have warrants out for four others. The Mounties, who occupied the temple for several days and searched it, using dogs, found more ceremonial swords and weapons stashed away. The Mounties relinquished control only after both sides agreed to a compromise that allowed both chairs and mats to be used until the executive committee can reach a permanent solution. Now, on the back wall of the dining hall, there is a sign in Punjabi prohibiting "proselytizing or speeches with respect to the issue of the use and presence of chairs vs. mats." But the settlement is only temporary, as may be the peace. Sikhism is based on ideals of equality, Bains said, and the traditional meal after prayers is an important demonstration that all temple members are equal. Therefore, no one's head should be above another's. And there are the accusations by the "lightly burdened" that their predecessors are really trying to regain control of the temple and of the cash box where the faithful leave their donations. Bains and others contend that the previous administration had funneled money to India in support of militant groups fighting for the creation of a Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan, in the Punjab. "And if it wasn't going there, the money had to be going into somebody's pocket," Bains said. Natt flatly denied that even a penny had ever been taken from the temple treasury or sent to the militants. He said that his followers support the idea of an independent Sikh homeland, but he said, "I do not preach violence." This is not the first time Canada has found itself embroiled in Sikh disputes. In 1985, a bomb went off on an Air India jumbo jet heading from Vancouver to India. The jet crashed into the sea off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard. Most were Canadians of Indian descent, and officials have attributed the bombing to retaliation over India's attack on a Sikh shrine in 1984. Last December, the Mounties' lead investigator said he expected to charge several suspects in the 1985 bombing by late winter or early spring. The Mounties have long said they suspected that Sikh militants from Vancouver were responsible for the bombing, although they have never suggested that anyone from Guru Nanak Temple was involved. The walls of the dining hall at the temple are covered with gruesome paintings of decapitations and other horrors that Indian Moguls once used to suppress the Sikhs. Alongside the paintings are modern photographs showing Sikh separatist warriors in India brandishing Ak-47s and other assault weapons. The photographs seem eerily out of place in a religious building, especially one that so recently witnessed such an outburst of violence. Bains tried to explain that the photographs do not glorify violence and that for Sikhs, violence is condoned only when every other measure has failed. "Yes these photographs show violence," he said, "but it is a different kind of violence." Later, he tried again to explain the presence of the photographs. "Actually," he said, "the people who put the pictures here were from the other committee." Regards Shyam Tiwari Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Mon Mar 10 14:15:01 1997 Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 11:52:54 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Back From Bharat Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar I am back from Bharat now, and I am going through my e-mail messages. If there are any issues that you have pending with me, please be assured that by the end of the week I will attend to them. I will also be sending a brief report on Hindutva related activities, and the people I talked with regarding our work in Bharat in next few days. regards, ajay ps : for those who knew, my Mama (Dr. V. C. Sanghani), who had attended GV2000, and Pittsburgh VHP conferences passed away. He was like a father to me, since I had grown up at my Mama's place. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Mon Mar 10 17:45:37 1997 Message-ID: Date: 10 Mar 1997 14:22:57 -0800 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: Back From Bharat To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Ajay May God give us strength to bear this loss. My hearty consolation. Babubhai ------------------------------ Date: 3/10/97 12:07 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaskar I am back from Bharat now, and I am going through my e-mail messages. If there are any issues that you have pending with me, please be assured that by the end of the week I will attend to them. I will = also be sending a brief report on Hindutva related activities, and the people = I talked with regarding our work in Bharat in next few days. regards, ajay ps : for those who knew, my Mama (Dr. V. C. Sanghani), who had attended GV2000, and Pittsburgh VHP conferences passed away. He was like a father to me, since I had grown up at my Mama's place. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;10 Mar 1997 11:50:12 -0800 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Mon, 10 Mar 97 = 11:20:29 -0800 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = OAA02745; Mon, 10 Mar 1997 14:15:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 11:52:54 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Back From Bharat Message-Id: = X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Mon Mar 10 19:41:06 1997 Message-ID: Date: 10 Mar 1997 16:23:50 -0800 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: Back From Bharat To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org = 3/10/97 = 5:20 PM RE>>Back From Bharat ------------------------------ Date: 3/10/97 3:22 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Ajay May God give us strength to bear this loss. My hearty consolation. Babubhai ------------------------------ Date: 3/10/97 12:07 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaskar I am back from Bharat now, and I am going through my e-mail messages. If there are any issues that you have pending with me, please be assured that by the end of the week I will attend to them. I will = also be sending a brief report on Hindutva related activities, and the people = I talked with regarding our work in Bharat in next few days. regards, ajay ps : for those who knew, my Mama (Dr. V. C. Sanghani), who had attended GV2000, and Pittsburgh VHP conferences passed away. He was like a father to me, since I had grown up at my Mama's place. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;10 Mar 1997 11:50:12 -0800 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Mon, 10 Mar 97 = 11:20:29 -0800 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = OAA02745; Mon, 10 Mar 1997 14:15:05 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 11:52:54 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Back From Bharat Message-Id: = X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;10 Mar 1997 14:47:20 -0800 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Mon, 10 Mar 97 = 14:50:42 -0800 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = RAA05840; Mon, 10 Mar 1997 17:45:45 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Date: 10 Mar 1997 14:22:57 -0800 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: Back From Bharat To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3DISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: ATTACHMENT; filename=3D"Message Body" _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Mon Mar 10 22:29:30 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 22:29:09 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970310222907_107901377@emout02.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Shree Sanghaniji X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay: Namaste. While I am happy that you are back, I am saddened by the passing away of your mama. I did not have good fortune to meet him but if he raised a dedicated worker like you, he must be a very special person. I pray to God to grant his soul eternal peace. Please convey my condolenses to your cousin sister (Sangita?) whom I have met. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com Wed Mar 12 07:04:13 1997 From: nandsharma@lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) Date: Wed, 12 Mar 97 07:04:03 EST Message-Id: <9703121204.AA15940@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Original-From: nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Back From Bharat X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay: I am very sorry to hear about the pasing away of your Mamaji, who was so instrumental in raising you and was such a dedicated worker for the Hindu cause. May God give you and your family strength and courage to bear his loss, and may He grant peace to Dr. Sanghani's soul. I will talk to you in a few days when you have had a chance to catch up. Nand Kishore _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri Mar 14 16:13:44 1997 Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 13:51:56 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: List of 1998 Hindu Festivals Needed Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have received the following request. If someone can help in next few days, I'd really appreciate it. regards, ajay ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 26 Feb 97 14:48:11 -0800 From: Biju Rao To: editor@rbhatnagar.ececs.uc.edu Subject: (no subject) Hi: Do you by any chance have a list of festival dates for 1998. We need to have them included in our college calender to allow Hindu students to take the day off if they choose. Thanks, Biju Rao ---------------------------- http://www.williams.edu:803/Economics/biju/biju.htm _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Sun Mar 16 06:58:31 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Sun, 16 Mar 1997 06:57:59 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970316065757_-2074452164@emout14.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: List of 1998 Hindu Festivals Needed X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay: Please try Dr. Shardanand in Maryland. This chapter publishes calendar every year. You may find this information. Regards Mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Mon Mar 17 15:27:20 1997 Message-ID: Date: 17 Mar 1997 10:44:36 -0800 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: List of 1998 Hindu Festi To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Ajay I will do that . It will require some predictions and adjustments as = Panchag for 1998 may not be avalable for sometime. Babubhai Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 3/14/97 1:26 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org I have received the following request. If someone can help in next few days, I'd really appreciate it. regards, ajay ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 26 Feb 97 14:48:11 -0800 From: Biju Rao To: editor@rbhatnagar.ececs.uc.edu Subject: (no subject) Hi: Do you by any chance have a list of festival dates for 1998. We need to have them included in our college calender to allow Hindu students to take the day off if they choose. Thanks, Biju Rao ---------------------------- http://www.williams.edu:803/Economics/biju/biju.htm _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;14 Mar 1997 13:21:03 -0800 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Fri, 14 Mar 97 = 13:19:07 -0800 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = QAA26264; Fri, 14 Mar 1997 16:13:46 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 13:51:56 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: List of 1998 Hindu Festivals Needed Message-Id: X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Tue Apr 1 20:21:05 1997 Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 17:59:47 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Website recognition in Hinduism Today Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, Hinduism Today has recognized VHP-A's website Mandir : Hindu Temples Reference Center in its March 1997 issue If you have not yet visited this site, please visit http://www.vhp.org/temple_info/ Tell your friends and family about it as well! Here is the article ---------------------------- TEMPLES On Screen Odyssey Planning a pilgrimage and can't decide where to go? Locate temples around the world at the "Mandir: Hindu Temples Reference Center," a project of the Hindu Students Council and VHP of America. "Mandir" will point you in the right direction, with maps, addresses and telephone numbers of Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist temples. But plan on staying awhile at http://www.hindunet.org/temple_info/. There are not only temple construction and history links but scriptures, a panchang, a festival calendar and even instructions on how how to become a Hindu. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbanerj@ccs.neu.edu Wed Apr 2 15:46:52 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199704022046.PAA06119@denali.ccs.neu.edu> Subject: Updates on Freedom Festival 1997 Programs To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 15:46:34 -0500 (EST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23beta2] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaste, > Following is to inform you regarding the latest progress of Freedom Festival > 1997 programs. Please feel free to send any comments, guidance & sugestion. > > Regards, > > Kanchan Banerjee > (617) 227-3023 > cbanerj@denali.ccs.neu.edu > > > > BROCHURE: > > First set of brochures were printed and the second version is soon to be > printed. If you've not received/seen it yet, or you want some, please contact > Nutan Mehta: (713) 495-9629; nutan@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu. > > EVENTS: > > Seminars: (50 one day seminars are targeted in US & Canada till March '98) > We already had 3 seminars : Florida, Boston and Ann Arbor. Many more are > planned. For more information please contact Jwalant Lakhia:(810) 926-1513; > jlakhia@umich.edu. > > Regional Conferences: > > May 30 - June 1: Georgia Tech, GA > Sept:(2nd Week) Ann Arbor, Michigan > Sept 26-28: MIT, Boston > To be decided: Washington D.C. > Oct (3rd week): Toronto > Dec/Jan: Houston (together with HSC Annual Meet) > > We have not decided any conference in West Coast or NJ/NY area yet. > > Some expected guests for these conferences are: Shri Atalji Bajpai, > Shri Prakash Singh Badal, Sri T.N.Seshan, Shri Arun Shourie from Bharat, > > Local senators & governors and university presidents > > For more information please contact:Chandan Bandopadhyay: 617-227-3023; > cbando@lynx.neu.edu. > > > PUBLIC RELATIONS > > 1)Vinod & Kanchan met Indian Ambassador Naresh Chandra & Dy. Ambassador > Shyamla Kowshik > * They will come to our programs as gust speakers > * They will help getting resources including documents, pictures, films, > speakers from Bharat > * The office was given the `big picture' of HSC. > > 2)Kanchan, Dinesh, Vipul met with National Federation for Indian-American > Associations (NFIA) president Subhas Razdan in Atlanta. NFIA is officially > appointed by the Indian Embassy (Govt.) as an agency to provide support to > various programs that are being organized for 50th anniversary. NFIA is > officially sponsoring Freedom Festival programs of HSC. > > 3)Swami Chidanandaji (force behind the Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Pittsburgh) > of India Heritage Foundation (IHF) has officially sponsored Freedom Festival > programs. > > > Advertisements: > > Planning to put full/half page ads in April in the following newspapers: > India Post, News India Times, India Abroad & Hinduism Today. > > For more information contact: Anand Parekh, (313) 995-8691;akpmich@umich.edu > > WEB PAGE: > > ff97 WEB page is ready. Please check it out: www.freeindia.org > > email adress: ff97@freeindia.org > > For more info contact Ajay Shah (619) 484-4564;ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu > > FUND > > We have a total budget of $250,000 for ff97 programs. > > Raised $22,000 to date; we are in dire need of money now. PLEASE HELP IN ANY > WAY YOU CAN! > > For more info please contact: Vipul Parikh, (313)769-2840;vpar@umich.edu > > STUDY CENTER > > Monthly/Bi-monthly study centers to study Bharat's history & culture have > started in several Places including Boston, Ohio and Michigan. More will start > soon. For syllabus and course matrial and other information please contact: > Rashmi Gupta (330) 869-2197; rgupta@neoucom.edu > > SURVEY > > Survey questionaires are being prepared for a survey among the college > professors (both Indian and non-Indian) of various selected departments > (e.g. South Asian studies, religion, history, economics, pol. Sc., Social > studies etc.). The purpose is obvious: > to get a picture of academicians' perspective on various issues > related to Hindu Culture and Bharat, identify, communicate with, network and > use their expertise to promote HSC's goals. > > For mor info contact Kanchan Banerjee. > > > ESSAY COMPETITION > > HSC's ff97 related essay & arts competition has been announced. For more info > please contat: Rajiv Pandit (708) 386-7826; rpandit@luc.edu > > > CULTURAL SHOW > > It is understood that a show speaks louder than a lecture on a subject. We have > been thinking to introduce Cultural shows aiming at education as well as > entertainment of people. These shows can potentially bring money as well as > publicity for HSC as well. Here is some good news. > > The "Prabhat Kala' group of dance (in USA based in San Francisco) is world > famous. They performed in GV2000 programs which was highly apprciated by > people of all ages. They have choreographed `Dharma Bhumi" a 90 minute dance > drama based on Bharat's history. The narration is in English with Sanskrit > songs and not pure classical form but improvised ballet styles. The artists > are all professional. > > In order to do these shows, we need support from all our Sangh Parivar > Organizations locally. > > They normally charge $5-6 thousand for each show. They are well known in North > America. Last few shows had minimum 700 and maximum 1200 audience size. If HSC > can organize these shows in various cities (minimum 4) it will serve all > purposes mentioned in the first paragraph. They will charge $3000 per show, > plus we will have to take care of the transportation, motel & food for them > which will be on an average $2000 per show. Also, for publicity, a rough > amount per show will be $1000. > > Total expencce will be roughly $6000 per show > (average). If we have tickets for 15, 25, 50, 100, averaging at $30 we > need to have 200 people per show to break even. According to the producer, > there show in Chicago drew 1200 people and they raised $120, 000 (includes > some donations) from one show! > > It is a great opportunity for us to educate people about our history and > culture, raising some money and having heavy publicity for HSC/ff97 programs. > Please send your opinions on organizing these events. > > Potentially we can have these porgrams in the following cities: > > Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, D.C., Detroit, Houston, L.A, NY, Pittsburgh, Toronto. > > The group can do three shows per > week (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) if travelling from one place to the other is > not very difficult. For example: they can do it in Boston on Friday evening, > in New York Saturday evening and D.C. on Sunday. They will travel by Grey > Hound to local areas and will purchase season/monthly group pass from > bus/airlines to reduce the costs. > > For more info please contact: Haimanti Banerjee, (617) 227-3023; > chb7334@acs.bu.edu > > INDIA DARSHAN: > > Exhibit: > > 30 paintings are being made in Delhi depicting various events > and great personalities form our history. Total cost for this paintings will > be $6000. The main painter is Prof. Advait Garanayak, an art school teacher. > Paintings will be in the USA by end of April. We are closely working with > Sangh office in Delhi (we have a signed contract with the painter). Vipul > Gupta is working on creating the rest of the posters which will include > various historical figures from pre-British period and special section from > British period. We are trying to have as many as 50 great freedom fighters > in the posters (total 8-10 posters). Copies of these will be available to all > regions by end of May. Many other organizations are looking for these > posters. Wherever it is applicable either we will sell the set to them or lend > them in exchange of donations or we will put it up ourselves in various > programs organized by others. Another idea is to publish a 16-month > calendar (to sell) on Freedom Leaders of Bharat in various ages using the > same material. We can get technical support from VHPA Maryland who > publishes a calendar each year. > > For more information please contact Vipul Gupta, (770) 416-6594; > gupta@norcross.mcs.slb.com > > Slide Shows: > > There are three slide shows we're working on with the help of > Harishji Pandya (DE). 1)Bharat's Gifts > (India's contributions to human civilization including math, sciences and > spirituality) 2)Bharat through ages (an overall history of Bharat from pre- > Vedic time till now) 3)Bharat's struggle against the British (a history of > modern struggle for independence 1757 - 1947). Budget for each show is > $3000. The shows are expected to be ready by mid May. The shows will > require two slide-projectors with a dissolving unit and audio system > including tape-player. The whole show is automated. Professionally done > with professional narration and background music. Copies will be available > to various regions by end of May (approximate cost per copy will be > $300). Our main difficulty now is both money and material. We will do one > at a time according to availability of fund. We are working very hard to > collect photographs and documents. Same as the exhibition, we will have > copies available to other organizations. > > For more information please contact Kanchan Banerjee. > > > GLOBAL FREEDOM PRAYER MEET: (GFPM) > > Following is the latest information being sent to all: > > On 15th August (Friday) Midnight, Indian Standard Time (Thursday Aug > 14, 2:30 PM EST), when the actual 50th year of independence will start, > people around the world the world will hold a prayer meet in there own > country at whatever time it is at that time. > > The time table would look like this: > > India Midnight (15th) > Australia 6:30 AM (15th) > Japan 4:30 AM (15th) > Moscow 7:30 PM (14th) > UK 8:30 PM (14th) > Kenya 5:30 PM (14th) > S. Africa 6:30 PM (14th) > > USA/Canada 2:30 PM EST (14th) > 1:30 PM MST > 11:30 AM PST > > Request your own country/state/county/city/town to announce this > year/month/week/day as India year/month/week/day. Request the head of > state/city/town to attend this program and have it at the main office of the > state/city/town (e.g. State House, City/Town Hall) and have Indian flag > raised. > > Program Content/Format: > > Assemble in a large place (preferably an open public place ) such as near > the city/town hall, main assembly place on college campus. > > * Hoist the Indian Flag > * Hoist the flag of the native country > * Sing Vandemataram (Indian national song) to salute Bharat Mata > (Mother India) > * Read messages from various renowned personalities from around the > world. > * Prayers (from various faiths) for the freedom, peace & prosperity of > Bharat and the rest of > the world > * Salute those great leaders who sacrificed their lives for freedom (put a > flower on the alter of > freedom fighters) > * A prayer for those innocent millions who lost their dignity and lives due > to inhuman oppressive > forces followed by one minute silence. > * Sing Janaganamana adhinayaka (Indian national anthem) > * National anthem of the native land. > > Proposal is being made that we will publicize it through all possible media. > We will prepare a package containing an Indian flag, format of the > program, sample letter to the head of state/city etc, copies of > Vandemataram and Janagana and a text to read during the event. It can be > mailed to any individual or organization for a price ($10) to individuals > and organizations. Shri Arvind Santji is helping in this matter and he > is willing to coordinate the whole thing from New York. > > We already have contacted organizations in Kenya, South Africa, Trinidad, > Netherlands and UK regarding this event. Also, we are asking all local Parivar > and non-parivar organization to organize this program. > > For more information please contact Kanchan Banerjee. > > > OTHERS: > > T-Shirts: Several designs related to Bharat's freedom and leaders are being > printed. For more information contact Rakhi Israni, (713) 797-0801; > rxi10688@Bayou.uh.edu > > Information Booklet: This approximately 100 page booklet will contain a)Most > commonly asked questions & answers about Bharat and culture b)Brief > history of Bharat c)Bharat contribution in the world. This book will > be printed in Bharat and will be made available to people and > organizations at a very cheap rate. Expected print date: End of June > 1997. For information contact:Murali Kothanadaraman: mkoth@ctp.com > PLEASE SEND YOUR INPUT & SUGGESTIONS ON ALL ABOVE! > > > > > > > > > > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Wed Apr 2 16:04:25 1997 Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 13:42:55 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Accesses to Teple Page Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar You will be glad to know that in 4 mounts, from December till March (1996/7), 6560 people have vsited, Mandir : Hindu Temple Reference Center sponsored by VHP of America. This does not count the total hits, or pictures, or icons or secondary pages. Just the access to the main page. Considering that December is usually a "light traffic" month, no. of hits on our site are significant. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Wed Apr 2 16:51:26 1997 Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 14:30:02 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: CFA : Disfiguring of Shree Krishna On Aerosmith Album Cover Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Amrican Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition : Call For Action ------------------------------------------------- WWW : http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/sony/ E-mail : ahadc@hindunet.org ------------------------------------------------- Namaskar, Aerosmith, a rock group has released a new music CD called "Nine Lives" This CD is produced by Columbia Records, a subsidiary of Sony. The cover of this CD depicts a picture of Lord Krishna's battle with Kaliya. The picture of Shree Krishna is disfigured, a woman's upper body with a blouse has been used to replace Shree Krishna's upper body, and the head of Shree Krishna is replaced by that of a cat. This representation is very insulting to Hindus everywhere in the world. Hindus are protesting this insensitive act of Sony/Columbia/Aerosmith in a united manner, and we urge you and your organization to join American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition (AHADC) formed for this purpose You can get more information from the AHADC Web site : --------------- http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/sony/ -------------- There is an on-line protest book, which you can sign. Also, e-mail addresses of Sony/Columbia/Aerosmith are listed on the above page, with sample protest letters. We also urge all the Hindu organizations and temples to join the American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition. A sign-up form is provided on the website, you can also print out this form and take it to your local temple and have their officials sign it. We sincerely hope that Hindus will unite and protest disfiguring of their revered Lord Krishna. Ajay Shah, Chetan Tanna and Vaani Chawla for American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition (ahadc@hindunet.org) convened by Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Wed Apr 2 21:51:35 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 21:51:01 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970402214845_-602257816@emout12.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Good job on Temple page X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 04/02/1997 Dear Ajayji: Namaste. Very heartened to know the results. I have been receiving a number of compliments and questions based on the temple site as well as Support A child page. You and your team deserve congratulations. Keep it up and continue educating all of us. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Thu Apr 3 07:00:24 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 06:59:52 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970403065952_2013931656@emout12.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Accesses to Teple Page X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay, Very happy to know that such acesses is available and I will share this news with intrested groups who can directly provide communication to you. Congratulation on a good work you and your group is doing. Please let me know if I can of any help. Best Regards, Hasit _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov Thu Apr 3 10:55:31 1997 X400-Received: by mta MTAdot1 in /c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; converted ( IA5-Text); Relayed; 03 Apr 1997 10:33:58 -0500 X400-Received: by /c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; converted ( IA5-Text); Relayed; 03 Apr 1997 10:33:58 -0500 X400-MTS-Identifier: [/c=US/admd=ATTMAIL/prmd=gov+dot/; 02F673343CDE6064-MTAdot1] Content-Identifier: 02F673343CDE6064 Content-Return: Allowed X400-Content-Type: P2-1988 ( 22 ) Conversion: Allowed Original-Encoded-Information-Types: IA5-Text Priority: normal Disclose-Recipients: Prohibited Alternate-Recipient: Allowed X400-Originator: Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov X400-Recipients: non-disclosure; Message-Id: <02F673343CDE6064*/c=US/admd=ATTmail/prmd=gov+dot/o=faa/s=Acharya/g=Hemendra/@MHS> Date: 03 Apr 1997 10:33:58 -0500 From: Hemendra Acharya To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org (Return requested), ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu (Return requested) Subject: Re: Accesses to Teple Page X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Namaskar, Pleased to know about the usefulness of the Temple Page. I have included information about this in the next issue of Hindu Vishwa also. Hemendra ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Accesses to Teple Page Author: ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu at Internet Date: 4/2/97 4:29 PM Namaskar You will be glad to know that in 4 mounts, from December till March (1996/7), 6560 people have vsited, Mandir : Hindu Temple Reference Center sponsored by VHP of America. This does not count the total hits, or pictures, or icons or secondary pages. Just the access to the main page. Considering that December is usually a "light traffic" month, no. of hits on our site are significant. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Apr 3 12:33:29 1997 Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 10:11:23 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: CFA : AHADC Response Pathetic Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, We have, for the first time in the USA, embarked upon the task of gathering all the Hindu organizations and interested individuals to fight the insult to Hindu dharma and Hindu symbols. For this purpose, we have formed American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition. However, I have noticed that none of the participants of this forum have signed the protest note on this page. Perhaps, no one has used the tools on the web page to contact Sony/Columbia/Aerosmith either. May I urge you to please visit the website http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/sony/ If out of 1 million Hindus, we do not even get 500 Hindus to sign the letter, there is hardly any chance that a corporation such as Sony or Wal-Mart will listen to us regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Fri Apr 4 05:30:18 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 05:25:18 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970404052517_1021227941@emout17.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: CFA : AHADC Response Pathetic X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay: You have taken lead to to form AHDC which is the need of the hour. Congratulations. However, please remember that you will be required to do very hard work to reach a point when AHDC will be taken seriously by others. I am sure you recognize that to start some work is much better than thinking without action but making the work successful is even much better than starting it. Please find ways to ENROLL people to our cause. Regards Mahesh Mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Fri Apr 4 07:16:07 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 07:15:34 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <970404071533_922057758@emout10.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Accesses to Teple Page X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Congratulation on successful introduction of temple site. I visited it with some difficulty since I am not good in reaching out to various web site. Still learning and will improve. best regards, hasit _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Mon Apr 7 19:49:52 1997 Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 16:28:12 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Shree Krishna's picture Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, As I had indicated in my previous message VHP-A has undertaken the the formation of "American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition". For the first time in USA, we have been able to muster the support of 2 lawyers and sevral Hindu organizations in this significant cause. In 3-4 days, we have about 150 people who have signed the on-line protest book, sadly though, insignificant no. of people from VHP-GC have signed this protest book. Nor have I heard from anyone from VHP-GC contacting local organizations/temples to get them enrolled. May I once again urge VHP-GC members to access the webpage : http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/sony/ and 1. sign the protest book 2. printout the letter (on AHADC letterhead) and sign up the temples and other organizations If this can be accomplished in next one week or so, it will really help our cause. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Tue Apr 8 05:36:29 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 05:35:58 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970408053555_808472655@emout05.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Shree Krishna's picture X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay: I did sign on for anti-defamation . How do I know if the mail was received and whether it was the type of response you were looking for ? I would like to know this. Thanks Mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Apr 10 19:13:53 1997 Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 15:52:17 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT : GHEN & Amar Chitra Katha Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, It is my great pleasure to announce that Global Hindu Electronic Networks and India Publishing House have reached an agreement whereby, GHEN now has a right to put Amar Chitra Katha books on the world wide web on various sites that it operates. Amar Chitra Katha is an Indian classic, it presents Hindu dharma and great Indian heros in a cartoon format. For hundreds of thousands of children, Amar Chitra Katha is their first introduction to Hindu dharma and history of Bharat. We plan to digitize most of the Amar Chitra Katha titles over the years. We will start with the freedom fighters, and then move to the Hindu dharma related titles. We believe that inclusion of Amar Chitra Katha is a significant step towards creating "Hindu Universe for Kids" web site. Our readership will increase many fold when ACK goes on line. If you know if businesses who would like to advertise on Amar Chitra Katha pages, please let me know. Please tell your friends and family to visit Hindu Universe : http://www.hindunet.org Free India : http://www.freeindia.org regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Fri Apr 11 10:54:35 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 10:54:02 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970411105211_-866682446@emout09.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Shree Krishna's picture X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay, Since coming back from Bharata, a couple of weeks back, I have had an incredible time. First my husband then I had to be hospitalized, he had a bad infection and I some Gallbladder trouble! Any way, the good news is, our second daughter had a son on the 4th of April --- name is Nishant Kheterpal. As you can tell, a lot has gone on, in three and a half weeks!!! My three months in Bharata were heavenly. Now I know why I have no desire for" Heaven"! I spent 3-4 weeks @Samskrit Bharati in Bangalore studying. I recomend their program to any one interested in some familiarity with samskrit. As you must know they are runing 10 day programes in the US too. I took photographs of some temples I visited for Gaurang bhai"s use, as requested by him.I am impressed by your efforts and would like to help sign the petitions, however I could not figure out what to do exactly. May be that is the reason for the low participation. Remember my generation is not very computer oriented! Please do forward this to all GC members, if you think it is O.K. I have tried very hard to get in touch with Kanchan but to no avail.Let me know if he is still around. Earlier he had asked me to help with some youth activities, to which I had said yes.I sent $ 500.00 to HSC for their activities for our 50th year of independence. Would like some up date on that too-or a way to get this info. Hope to hear from the appropriate people soon. Best wishes, Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From YLakra@aol.com Fri Apr 11 14:39:58 1997 From: YLakra@aol.com Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 14:39:23 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970411143822_-1770494038@emout11.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: ANNOUNCEMENT : GHEN & Amar Chitra Katha X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay, this is a wonderful news. This is another feather in your cap. keep up the good work. Yash. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sun Apr 13 07:35:22 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 07:34:51 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970413073450_547824660@emout11.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Amar Chira Katha X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 04/13/97 Dear Ajay: Namaste. It indeed is a milestone. I assume that you would be making an announcement to all the ethnic media about this. This may be forwarded to our Temple site as well. with our expanding presence on the internet, we would need to create an infrastructure to handle various issues such as responding to querries in timely fashion, providing updates etc. so as to remain effective and competitive. Good luck and congratulations for this achievement. Brotherly yours, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Sun Apr 13 08:49:38 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 08:49:06 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970413084906_1055814410@emout11.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Shree Krishna's picture X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Renubahen: Welcome. Hope you and your husband are in much better health now. Regards Mahesh Mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Sun Apr 13 11:33:44 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 11:33:11 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970413113310_2082200401@emout15.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Addopt a village etc. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Mahesh Bhai, I thank you for your concern. We are better, however some investigations are still going on -- it is a investigative world ,without conclusions it seems.My question pertains to the Adopt a village program, that I pledged $ 1750.00 for. Unlike our western counter parts I have not heard any more from the person. Could you please tell me what to do? Only people of our origins have such a casual attitude towards charitable support. Actually, I want to visit these places coming Dec.-- Mar. The gentlman had said it could be arranged. If I remember correctly, you told me you hsd gone there and recomend it. So please advice. In my previous note I asked for instructions on how to sign the protest, I have not heard yet. I am sure some simple instructions will facilitate our response. Did I miss the instructions or am I to know ? Again advice please. Regards,Sincerely Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Tue Apr 15 03:04:48 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 03:04:09 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970415030409_839444080@emout19.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org cc: samvad@del2.vsnl.net.in (balkrishnanaik) Subject: Sad news X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 04/14/1997 Dear GC members and Chapter Presidents: Namskaar from Gaurang. I have the responsibility of sharing this sad news with you. We are saddened to inform you of untimely death of two past members of the Governing Council of VHP of America. Dr. Mulesh Swami of Orangeburg, South Carolina passed away in late February after a brief illness. He had served the Governing Council in late eighties and early nineties. Dr. Swami, a soft spoken man was very articulate and had strong desire to see the Hindu society united. VHP of America shares the grief of his wife, Rasikabahen and family members. May God grant his soul everlasting peace. Shree Mahesh Shukla of Charlotte, NC died on March 10th. He was an ardent worker and instrumental in introducing VHP to Charlotte area. He served on the Governing Council in mid and late eighties. It was ironic that on March 8th and 9th, he was with Dr. Mahesh Mehta, escorting him to all the programs. VHP has lost a valuable asset in his sudden departure. Our heartfelt condolences to Mrs. Uma bahen Shukla and the family and our prayer to God for eternal peace for the departed soul. VHP of America has lost two valuable workers who had barely crossed sixty year mark. We pray for eternal peace for the departed souls. You may send your condolences to: Sushree Rasika Swami Sushree Uma Shukla 767 Windsor St., NW 6232 Sharon Acres Rd. Orangeburg, SC 29115-5340 Charlotte, NC 28210 Tel. : 803-536-2965 Tel.: 704-552-9264 Brotherly, Gaurang G. Vaishnav General Secretary _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Tue Apr 15 05:37:01 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 05:36:30 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970415053629_-1402588480@emout04.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Addopt a village etc. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Renubahen: Namaste The project is "One Teacher One room Schools." Shri Anand Mohan Agarwala is our coordinator from GC. Please talk with him for your desire to visit this area. He will be very happy to make arrangements. His tel. 201-822-9355. I understand your feelings about the casual attitude. I have a long experience to deal with it. However, this particular family has devoted 25 years in tribal service. Regards Mahesh Mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Tue Apr 15 05:47:57 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 05:47:25 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970415054724_-200476990@emout04.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Fwd: Addopt a village etc. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Re: Addopt a village etc. Date: 97-04-15 05:41:31 EDT From: MJMEHTA To: MJMEHTA I forgot to tell you about the sign on procedure. The best person to help will be Ajay Shah. If you enter the net and enter the following address, you will see the subjetc. Click that and you will see a blenk form. You can type your protest and send. Please try. http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/sony/ Thanks mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Tue Apr 15 05:51:22 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 05:50:51 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970415055051_-301147197@emout06.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Addopt a village etc. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Renubahen: I forgot to answer your second question. The best person will be Ajay Shah. Please enter Internet. And try http://www.vhp.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/sony/ You get a blank form. Enter your protest and send. Mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Tue Apr 15 18:13:57 1997 Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 14:52:16 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: 1300 and Counting...have you signed? Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar So far about 1300 people have signed the protest to Sony Corporation/Columbia Records/Aerosmith requesting that the cover of Nine Lives, which has a distorted picture of Shree Krishna be changed. This has turned out to be a genuine mass movement. It is also encouraging that this project is directly carried out under the VHP-A banner, and yet we see no hesitation in community support. However, there is some danger that VHP-A will not be able to gain much organizational benefit out of this movement if we do not sign up the temples and other Hindu organizations to join us in our endevor. May I request the GC members to contact their local temples and Hidu organizations and request them to sign up as members of American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition? This is really necessary if we were to strengthen our PR and build a network of temples that may be useful not just for similar projects but for variety of projects regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Wed Apr 16 11:05:04 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 10:10:54 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970416101043_973787800@emout01.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: 1300 and Counting...have you signed? X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay, I signed but do not have any temple or even an asso. in G.R. Will try for individuals. Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Wed Apr 16 18:59:45 1997 Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 15:38:01 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, We have just received a message (on the answering machine of our lawyer), from the SONY corporation that they will issue an apology to the Hindu community, and replace the cover of the CD by Aerosmith. SONY said that they could not "ignore the messages from thousands of Hindus" More details as they become available . . . . This is the first, and most important victory for "American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition", convened by VHP of America. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Wed Apr 16 19:19:23 1997 Message-ID: Date: 16 Apr 1997 16:17:32 -0700 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apolog To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Thanks. I called few organisations. Conratulations. Babubhai Note; Will talk to you further on last night topic. ------------------------------ Date: 4/16/97 4:08 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaskar, We have just received a message (on the answering machine of our lawyer), = from the SONY corporation that they will issue an apology to the Hindu community, and replace the cover of the CD by Aerosmith. SONY said that they could not "ignore the messages from thousands of Hindu= s" More details as they become available . . . . This is the first, and most important victory for "American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition", convened by VHP of America. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;16 Apr 1997 13:20:35 -0700 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Wed, 16 Apr 97 = 16:01:54 -0700 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = SAA10295; Wed, 16 Apr 1997 18:59:46 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 15:38:01 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! Message-Id: = X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From p479@hopi.dtcc.edu Wed Apr 16 20:36:15 1997 Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 20:36:10 -0400 (EDT) From: HARISH C PANDYA To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Sad news In-Reply-To: <970415030409_839444080@emout19.mail.aol.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks for your massage of sad news. However I did not get the address corretly. Could you send the address again. Please write them seperately. Brotherly yours Harish Pandya _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Wed Apr 16 21:11:13 1997 Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 14:24:17 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Death Ritest : For the webpage... Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org One of our readers has requested the following, could someone help? Thanks= .. ----- Forwarded message: From:=09nop27439@mail.telepac.pt (Ant=F3nio Jr.) Reply-to:=09nop27439@mail.telepac.pt To:=09vicharak@aol.com Date: 97-04-09 07:44:53 EDT Would appreciate detailed info on the above topic.Enjoyed reading about Hindu Universe. Alves Junior _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com Thu Apr 17 07:10:39 1997 From: nandsharma@lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) Date: Thu, 17 Apr 97 07:10:31 EDT Message-Id: <9704171110.AA06944@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Original-From: nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay: This is great news indeed. Can we somehow utilize this event (in ethnic or general media via a press release or news item) to publicize our efforts on this issue while thanking the SONY corp. for being sensitive to a Hindu issue, a win-win situation. We can perhaps get a little publicity for vigporously pursuing a Hindu issue. Thanks for your persistent efforts. Now perhaps we can get back to the Ganesh statue issue and try to strengthen the coalition, which did not happen for Sony Aerosmith issue. More later. Nand Kishore _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbanerj@ccs.neu.edu Thu Apr 17 10:23:41 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199704171423.KAA21878@denali.ccs.neu.edu> Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 10:23:37 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: from "Ajay Shah" at Apr 16, 97 03:38:01 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23beta2] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaste, This is a major victory. Everybody involved desreves our hearty congrats. I think, now is time to reach out to as many Hindu/Indian organizations as possible on this occasion and go back to Ganeshji in Disney issue and work on that as well. Regards, Kanchan _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Thu Apr 17 11:37:01 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 11:36:22 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970417113552_-1702697760@emout07.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay, Congratulations!!! I am proud of you ! Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Thu Apr 17 11:46:46 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 11:46:13 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970417114603_-200209031@emout14.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Kanchan, I am almost as happy to know you still exist, as I am for Sony apology! each year you call or send info. then never return my messages.If a working Nani amma can manage a few minutes (I have two grandchildren now), surely you can return my message. Anyway hope to hear soon. with love, Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Apr 17 12:09:19 1997 Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 08:47:30 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! In-Reply-To: <9704171110.AA06944@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sony Corporation will be putting the advertisement in the newspapers, in Bharat and USA, apologizing to Hindus and AHADC and VHP-A. We will be sending a press release today, a copy of which is being sent to VHP-GC Net separately After we get all that Sony has promised us, we will send them a letter of thanks as well, we have already thanked them in our press release. We have to do some organizational groundwork before the next issue is taken up, more on that in coming days . ... regards, ajay On Thu, 17 Apr 1997, Nand K Sharma wrote: > Ajay: > > This is great news indeed. Can we somehow utilize this event (in ethnic or > general media via a press release or news item) to publicize our efforts > on this issue while thanking the SONY corp. for being sensitive to a Hindu > issue, a win-win situation. > We can perhaps get a little publicity for vigporously pursuing a Hindu issue. > Thanks for your persistent efforts. Now perhaps we can get back to the Ganesh > statue issue and try to strengthen the coalition, which did not happen for > Sony Aerosmith issue. More later. > > Nand Kishore > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Apr 17 12:35:57 1997 Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 09:14:06 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Press Release : AHADC Efforts Leads to Sony Apology to Hindus Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org AHADC Efforts Leads to Sony Apology to Hindus : Offending CD Cover to Be Withdrawn Immediately For Immediate Press Release ----------------------------------------- American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition Convened By Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) of America E-mail : ahadc@hindunet.org Phone : (619) 484- 4564 or (619)674-7470 Fax : (619) 674 7471 Web : http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/sony/ ------------------------------------------ The American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition (AHADC), is pleased to=20 announce that on April 16, 1997, the senior lawyer for Sony Music &=20 Entertainment, Inc., New York, (Sony), Mr. Joseph Salvo, contacted the attorney for AHADC, Mr. Chetan=20 P. Tanna, and issued an apology on behalf of Sony/Columbia to the entire=20 Hindu community for the offensive cover of the CD "Nine Lives" by a rock=20 group, Aerosmith. The cover of the CD "Nine Lives" portrayed a distorted and offensive=20 picture of Hindu God, Shree Krishna, which infuriated thousands of=20 Hindus around the world. Over 10 Hindu organizations, representing=20 thousands of Hindus had joined the AHADC in its protest against the=20 Sony/Columbia/Aerosmith trio. The AHADC had set up a protest site, (http://www.hindunet.org/anti_defamation/sony/) which was visited by about 10,000 people in two weeks, and over 1,400=20 persons signed individual on-line protest letters to SONY, Columbia and Aerosmith, and=20 several stores selling this CD. Sony's senior counsel said, "Sony could not ignore thousands of messages from the Hindus around the world, and had decided to immediately stop=20 the production of said CD.=94 AHADC and SONY Corporation, have verbally agreed that : 1. As of today, SONY will stop manufacturing the CD, until the cover is=20 changed. 2. SONY will try to recall the CDs from the market as much as possible. 3. SONY will provide the AHADC with the new cover for AHADC's approval=20 before publication. SONY will not use any Hindu religious symbols in any form. 4. SONY will issue a public apology to the Hindus in the Hindu/India=20 related publications, in the U.S., as well as in India, and also on the=20 SONY website called SonyOnLine. (www.music.sony.com.) The AHADC appreciates SONY's decision in response to the protest by the Hindu community around the world. The AHADC would especially like to=20 thank Blockbuster Music for assuring us earlier that they will not sell=20 the CD, unless the offensive cover was changed. The AHADC believes that SONY's actions are the due to the unity,=20 determination and hard work by the Hindu community. We thank the Hindu=20 organizations, who joined the AHADC, and all individuals who signed the=20 online protest and/or sent e-mail and letters to SONY/Columbia/Aerosmith=20 and to the stores selling this CD. A notable aspect of this protest=20 movement was that we received support also from our non-Hindu friends=20 and well-wishers! The AHADC was convened by VHP of America (World Hindu Council of=20 America), represented by Ajay Shah, Chetan P. Tanna, Vaani Chawla, and=20 Rajiv Dutta. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Apr 17 12:48:37 1997 Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 09:26:53 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Cc: Anand Kamlesh Parekh Subject: And a Vote of Thanks... Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, First and foremost, thanks to all individuals on their efforts on this issue, all the calling and letter writings etc. Thanks to Viraj-ji, who along with Chetan Tanna and Vaani Chawla) independently brought this issue to everyone's notice Thanks to all the parivar organizations, who formed the core of this effort. Thanks to Anand Parekh, who sent out all the press releases. Thanks to Chetan Tanna, Vaani Chawla and Raj Dutta, who although are not active in our day-to-day activities (yet!!), worked hard on this issue. Thanks to HSC for providing the GHEN facilities and funding, which was instrumental in our movement. Thanks to all VHP-A members who signed up various temples and organizations to be a part of AHADC And finally, we have now launched a formal Hindu Anti-Defamation movement. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Teleprime@aol.com Thu Apr 17 13:35:25 1997 From: Teleprime@aol.com Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 13:34:46 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970417133440_51474208@emout14.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Nand ji, I suggest that VHP issue a press releasae to all Indian ethnic media. This will get us some good publicity. Raj Dave' 17/April/1997 _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Apr 17 14:08:20 1997 Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 10:46:36 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! In-Reply-To: <970417133440_51474208@emout14.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar Raj The press release is issued as VHP-A It says press release by : American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition (Convened by Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America) regards, ajay On Thu, 17 Apr 1997 Teleprime@aol.com wrote: > Nand ji, > > I suggest that VHP issue a press releasae to all Indian ethnic media. This > will get us some good publicity. > > Raj Dave' > 17/April/1997 > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbanerj@ccs.neu.edu Thu Apr 17 14:40:13 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199704171840.OAA01848@denali.ccs.neu.edu> Subject: A timely article by Dr. Frawley To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 14:40:02 -0400 (EDT) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23beta2] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > American Institute of Vedic Studies > PO Box 8357, Santa Fe NM 87504 > Dr. David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri), Director > email vedicinst@aol.com - web consciousnet.com/vedic > > A Call for an Intellectual Kshatriya = > > By David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri) > = > > We live in the age of the information revolution, which has taken a quant= > um leap since the = > > introduction of computers. The information flood is changing the nature o= > f the society in = > > which we live in ways that we do not yet know and for which there is no p= > recedent. This = > > information revolution is in many respects an information war, with diffe= > rent groups = > > struggling to put their views out to the general public as the truth. It = > is often a disinformation = > > war as well, with groups trying to discredit those who have different vie= > ws, using the media = > > as their weapon. = > > = > > In this contest whoever puts out information first usually gains credibil= > ity by defining the = > > field. Whoever puts out information in the most sophisticated and high te= > ch manner has the = > > best audience and generally the best success in promoting their agenda. I= > n the media realm = > > packaging is more important than content and strong assertion often takes= > the role of real = > > proof. People tend to believe what has a well presented in the media, eve= > n if it is otherwise = > > biased or limited. Billions of dollars are being poured by various vested= > interest groups into = > > this information war, with religious and political groups making great ef= > forts to represent = > > themselves in this new global arena. Advertisement, public relations, and= > lobbyists are hard = > > at work, often to the highest bidder, to give a good image and strong med= > ia presence to their = > > clients, if the price is right. = > > = > > We live in a mass media dominated society, with daily exposure to some so= > rt of radio, = > > television, computer, newspaper or magazine. It has been said that the me= > dia is the message, = > > that the media itself has made itself into the focus of our lives. The me= > dia has become our = > > mind. Many of us spend more time taking in media information that interac= > ting with other = > > people or with the world of nature. These media images serve to build up = > our minds down to = > > a subconscious level. They program our behavior, a fact that advertising = > has long known and = > > sought to benefit from. = > > = > > =0D > > > Now the Western information and media culture is spreading throughout the= > entire world, = > > including what is called the third world, with the globalization of the w= > orld economy. Even = > > villages are now getting television and the other trappings of Western mo= > dernity. India, = > > China, and Asia in general are being brought under the influence of the m= > edia world. = > > = > > Unfortunately, this Western media and commercial culture continues the s= > ame goals and = > > influences as previous colonial forces, which only fifty years ago lost h= > old in Asia. This = > > commercial culture seeks to supplant native and traditional cultures with= > a Western model, = > > not only in terms of practical conveniences but in terms of thought and b= > elief. It attempts to = > > Americanize or Europeanize the world. Western religious groups, particula= > rly Christian = > > Evangelical groups, are learning to use the media for their advantage as = > well, doing = > > preaching and proselytizing, and broadcasting their mass rallies through = > the media. Yet = > > Christians as a whole use the media in Asia to promote their agenda over = > native Asian = > > religions, which the media often stereotypes as primitive. = > > = > > Islamic groups are also realizing the power of the media and spending lar= > ge sums to = > > influence public opinion in the Western world, stressing the humanistic s= > ide of Islam. The = > > Islamic lobby in the United States is one of the largest lobby groups in = > the country. In = > > Islamic countries the power of the media is recognized both for good and = > ill. The media is = > > strictly controlled by the state to project an Islamic image, and portray= > Islam only in a = > > positive light, while striving to keep the Western media and its views ou= > t. = > > = > > In the context of India the question arises where are Hindus in this info= > rmation war and = > > media presentation? The answer is that, with a few notable exceptions, Hi= > ndus generally are = > > not present or only feebly present, apologetic or half-hearted in their s= > elf-presentation in the = > > information field. The image of Hindus and of Hinduism that prevails in t= > he information age = > > is created by non-Hindus and by anti-Hindu forces, not only by intention = > but also by default = > > because Hindus themselves seldom challenge wrong views or provide an alte= > rnative. In this = > > way Hinduism is being eroded, particularly in the minds of young Hindus, = > who seldom find = > > their religion represented, or who find it denigrated in the media world = > around them that is = > > rapidly becoming their reality. = > > = > > Since independence India has been dominated by Marxist and socialist thin= > king that has = > > viewed Hinduism, with its spiritual and religious values, as its main ene= > my. Now gradually a = > > more commercial influence is arising with economic liberalization, but it= > similarly is trying = > > to undermine and replace Hindu culture, with its self-sufficiency and spi= > rituality does not = > > make for an easy commercial target. Hindu culture, which managed to survi= > ve as the = > > predominant model in India even through a thousand years of domination by= > first Islamic and = > > then European Christian influences, finds itself under a new threat, less= > overt but perhaps for = > > that very reason more dangerous. = > > = > > The intelligentsia of India since independence has been often self-righte= > ously anti-Hindu and = > > naively accepting of Western ideologies, often merely echoing or imitatin= > g the old colonial = > > and missionary propaganda against their own venerable complex religion th= > at appears alien to = > > these disenfranchised souls. The result is that the ruling political part= > ies of India have done = > > little to protect the dominant culture of the country from media distorti= > ons but have in fact = > > often encouraged these. They have used anti-Hindu propaganda projected th= > rough the media = > > both in the West and in India to try to keep Hindus suppressed and afraid= > of asserting = > > themselves, so that there is no Hindu challenge to their power. The resul= > t is that Hinduism = > > continues under siege and often with little defence, particularly in this= > new battleground. = > > Even Hindu religious groups and leaders are often more concerned about th= > eir own particular = > > faction and seldom willing to come to the defense of the culture as a who= > le. = > > = > > Clearly unless this situation is corrected the future of Hinduism is thre= > atened or at least = > > diminished. While several Hindu groups have noticed this problem, it stil= > l has yet to be faced = > > and addressed in a complete manner. Hindu society is becoming aware of th= > eir difficulty but = > > it has yet to really awaken and deal with it in the real world. = > > = > > The front line of the battle in the world today is no longer on any parti= > cular battlefield with = > > the exchange of bullets or bombs. It lies now in the media and in the inf= > ormation field, = > > which can be quite as deadly and poisoning in its results as any battlefi= > eld. Even the battles = > > that are fought with weapons gain much more importance if the media is th= > ere. A few people = > > killed in Israel can become world news and shape global strategies becaus= > e of the media. = > > Dozens of people killed in Sudan or China, where there is no media, will = > have no effect. = > > = > > In this information war a different kind of warrior is necessary and a di= > fferent strategy is = > > required. This is not an entirely new issue because there has always been= > something of an = > > information war in the clash of cultures, nations and religions that has = > occurred throughout = > > history. But today it has much more importance in the information age and= > has become the = > > central issue. = > > = > > Each culture has its intellectual defenders. These are its great thinkers= > who articulate its = > > cultural values. These intellectual defenders serve to challenge negative= > views of the culture. = > > They also serve to present a more favorable image of the culture and defi= > ne its future. = > > Hindus traditionally had their Kshatriya or warrior class to defend them.= > There has always = > > been an intellectual Kshatriya as well, those who defend the culture from= > attack in the realm = > > of ideas, which usually precedes or accompanies physical attack. = > > = > > However Hindus today have failed perhaps more than any other group to cre= > ate a defense for = > > their culture in the media world. Hindus are routinely portrayed through = > stereotypes of caste, = > > dowry deaths, widow burning, strange cults, poverty and superstition. The= > worship of Shiva = > > appears in the New York times as the phallic cult of the God of destructi= > on. Krishna is = > > portrayed in Western universities as an erotic God with questionable mora= > ls. Brahmins = > > appear in the Western media as rich landowners oppressing their poor slav= > e Shudras, right = > > out of communist propaganda stories. = > > = > > The world mass media seldom considers any Hindu point of view. Though Hin= > dus are the = > > third largest religion in the world, and the largest non-biblical traditi= > on, in many = > > presentations of world religions Hindus are left out or denigrated as pol= > ytheists, idolaters and = > > animists. Some universities in the West teach that Hinduism is not a reli= > gion at all but a = > > collection of cults mainly of a primitive nature. Such schools also teach= > that India as a nation = > > was created by the British and was otherwise just a collection of warring= > states with little in = > > common. = > > = > > Though India is the largest democracy in the world and the second most po= > pulated country, it = > > has no permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. In events of global i= > mportance neither = > > an Indian or a Hindu point of view are given much consideration. In Bangl= > adesh Hindus are = > > under siege and frequently have their property taken from them. In Pakist= > an Hindus have = > > been almost entirely eliminated. In neither country has there ever been a= > ny prominent Hindu = > > leaders or government officials. In Fiji Hindus are routinely oppressed. = > In Malaysia they = > > have to accept an inferior position, where Hindus can be converted to Isl= > am but no Muslims = > > can become Hindus. When Hindus work in Islamic Gulf countries Hindus have= > to hide their = > > religion. Saudi Arabia requires that India send only a Muslim ambassador = > and India has = > > always meekly complied, bowing down to a nation with 1/20 its population!= > = > > = > > In India itself foreign missionary activity is perhaps at its highest poi= > nt in history, = > > particularly targeting tribal groups, even to the extent of encouraging t= > hem to secede from = > > the nation and form Christian states. In South India Catholic priests rou= > tinely dress up like = > > Hindu Swamis and go to the villages speaking of Yoga and Vedanta in order= > to convert = > > Hindus to Christianity. Yet Hindus seldom raise a voice and the world har= > dly knows of these = > > facts. And, most strangely, it is the media of India that works probably = > the hardest to = > > suppress knowledge of these goings on. = > > = > > In America the large Islamic lobbyist money works to promote a positive i= > mage of Islam and = > > does not hesitate to denigrate Hindus or India. In England Pakistanis org= > anize to create a = > > political influence and bend their politicians to criticize India on Kash= > mir, while Hindus in = > > the same country, in perhaps larger numbers and affluence, do little to c= > ounter this. There = > > are many other examples of the same phenomenon, a Hindu indifference to t= > he media that = > > puts them at a disadvantage even in their own country. = > > = > > =0D > > > What Hindus need today, in fact what the whole world needs is an intellec= > tual Kshatriya or = > > intellectual warrior class (bauddhika kshatriya). It needs a group of ded= > icated workers and > activists who uphold the Dharma against this media and information onslau= > ght. Such individuals > must be above commercial manipulation and self-promotion, working tireles= > sly to counter this = > > disinformation flood. = > > = > > Yet this movement must start in India and in the Hindu community itself t= > o be really = > > credible. For example, when Hindus in America complained against media di= > stortions of = > > Hindu groups in India to the New York Times they were told that the infor= > mation came from = > > Delhi itself. Clearly the change must start in India to have any real eff= > ect, but this can be aided > by the activities of Hindus all over the world. = > > = > > In India the English language media is generally anti-Hindu and often pro= > -Marxist. The = > > universities in India are frequently dominated by professors whose heart = > is not in the Dharma = > > of their country but in Western materialism. Kerala and Bengal today rema= > in under the yoke = > > of communist governments. In Kerala Hindu workers are being killed. In Be= > ngal Hindu = > > sadhus are commonly attacked. It is no wonder that Hindus outside of Indi= > a are subject to = > > oppression, when Hindus in India itself are under siege. = > > = > > The Vedas say that Brahma or spiritual power and Kshatra or political pow= > er must go = > > together. When Brahma or spiritual power develops it creates an appropria= > te Kshatra or = > > social power to extend its influence into society. It provides a dharmic = > order to our human = > > relations, both individual and collective. If Brahma or spiritual power f= > ails to impact the = > > social order and raise the social Dharma, then it is a sign that this Bra= > hma or spiritual power = > > itself has failed, that it is not legitimate or real. = > > = > > Sri Krishna, the great avatar, worked throughout his life to create a dha= > rmic Kshatriya, an = > > order of noble souls who could establish and sustain a dharmic social ord= > er. He was willing = > > to promote a great battle, a civil war among the Kshatriya themselves, to= > allow his = > > handpicked dharmic Kshatriya followers to gain power. He purified the Ind= > ian Kshatriya with = > > the blood of a dharmic war. Because of his great achievement a Kshatriya = > order was = > > established that maintained a dharmic society for many centuries. This ex= > ample should not be = > > lost on us today. The Kshatriya of India today, its social and political = > leaders, require a = > > similar dharmic purification, perhaps not a Kurukshetra in the literal se= > nse but a purification = > > from false values and egoistic practices that are rampant everywhere. = > > = > > Let us also look at the example of the great Swami Vidyarananya of Sringe= > ri, an Advaitin = > > and a Mayavadin, who yet inspired two Hindu Kshatriyas would had become M= > uslims to = > > reconvert to Hinduism and found the great Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar to= > protect the = > > Dharma. Would not one say that if all is Maya or illusion, why would a gr= > eat Swami start a = > > kingdom? Such a question shows a profound misunderstanding of Hindu Dharm= > a. One can = > > only transcend the world by fulfilling one's dharma and one's karma, and = > even if one has = > > done so for oneself, one still has the duty to others to teach, guide and= > raise the world. Let = > > us also look at the example of Samartha Ramdas, who inspired the great Ki= > ng Shivaji. = > > = > > Unfortunately so far modern India has created a Prime Minister of this so= > rt of inspiration. = > > Many modern Hindus, taking up an excessive view of non-violence, have rej= > ected the idea of = > > any Hindu Kshatriya altogether. They have felt that Hindus should not hav= > e an army and = > > should not defend themselves against violence, but should rather offer th= > emselves meekly to = > > their enemies. This attitude has naturally led to the idea that Hindus sh= > ould not even = > > challenge media distortions of them. = > > = > > However in the Vedic view a country cannot exist without a Kshatriya orde= > r, which is the = > > pillar of the society. The Mahabharata states that if there is not a righ= > teous Kshatriya = > > rulership that employs the danda or is willing to punish adharma, then th= > e people will end up = > > eating each other. In the information age we could say that if Hindus do = > not create an = > > intellectual Kshatriya then the people will end up destroying themselves = > with false beliefs and = > > propaganda. = > > = > > If a dharmic Kshatriya is not created through the force of Brahma or spir= > itual knowledge, = > > then the law is that an adharmic Kshatriya will come to fill in the vacuu= > m. This is exactly = > > what occurred not only in modern India but throughout the rest of the wor= > ld. After the = > > excessive non-violence in the Indian independence movement no genuine Ksh= > atriya could or = > > was created in the country. This left the country prey to a false Kshatri= > ya, based mainly upon = > > Marxist ideals, mixed with war lord temperaments, such as we have found i= > n communist = > > countries, who similarly have misled the people and prevented the real gr= > owth of the nation. = > > = > > One must remember the example of the Sikhs in India. Originally a purely = > spiritual = > > movement, they were forced to take up arms and to adapt a Kshatriya order= > by the cruel = > > oppression perpetrated against them by the Muslim rulers of the time, in = > which torture and = > > genocide was the rule of the day. In this way they grew and flourished an= > d became a force to = > > be reckoned with. = > > = > > Unfortunately India as a whole at that time did not take up the call of S= > ikh Dharma, which = > > was the call for a real Kshatriya revival. The resurgent voice of Hindu D= > harma that both = > > Brahma and Kshatra are required, that spiritual knowledge must create a s= > trong social order = > > and discipline, was muffled. This movement of a new spiritual Kshatriya o= > f modern Hindus, = > > which the Sikhs began, needs to be completed today, not only for the gene= > ration of Hindu = > > society but for the revival of Sanatana Dharma or the universal tradition= > of truth throughout = > > the world. But it must be completed not so much in the field of arms as i= > n the field of ideas. = > > The only Kshatriya that can carry the day today is the intellectual Kshat= > riya. = > > = > > =0D > Hindus must create a new intelligentsia that has the power to overcome an= > d absorb the = > > alienated and Western dominated intellectuals of India. Hindus must proje= > ct an intellectual = > > view that is articulate and compelling. They must bring the influence of = > Sanatana Dharma to = > > the intelligentsia of the world. For a culture that has produced such thi= > nkers as the Vedic = > > seers, Upanishadic sages, Kapila, Buddha, Patanjali and Shankara, and in = > the modern times = > > Sri Aurobindo and Ramana Maharshi, this is certainly possible. In fact we= > can find in such = > > great modern figures of India as Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda good= > models of = > > intellectual Kshatriya as well as spiritual masters. Clearly the success = > of Hindus in such = > > intellectual fields as science, computers, engineering and medicine shows= > that they have the = > > capacity. What is lacking is the motivation, the guidance, and perhaps th= > e inspiration. = > > = > > Another mistake Hindus have made is being too accommodating under the gui= > se of synthesis, = > > which erodes clear thinking. Under the guise that all religions are one H= > indus hesitate to = > > develop a proper criticism, however justified, of the exclusivist creeds = > working to convert = > > them, and of other adharmic actions done in the name of religion in the w= > orld. There is also = > > the danger that in trying to attract minorities into their fold Hindu gro= > ups in India will seek = > > to appease minorities rather than to help them in a dharmic way. The true= > Kshatriya will help = > > and lead, giving a positive direction for others to follow, not merely ap= > pease and = > > accommodate in order to gain popularity. A true Kshatriya is devoted to d= > harma and cannot = > > be won over by name, fame, influence or money. = > > = > > The youth in particular need to be awakened to this call for an intellect= > ual Kshatriya. They = > > have the idealism and the vision of the future, as well as the vitality, = > but this needs to be = > > directed not only by a spiritual urge but one that addresses the problems= > of society as well. = > > To be truly relevant, particularly to the youth, this intellectual voice = > must address not only = > > the social issues of today but environmental problems, the role of scienc= > e, and the future = > > evolution of humanity. = > > = > > An intellectual Kshatriya must not merely be defensive but creative and e= > xpansive. It must = > > project a positive view of Hindu Dharma, and give it a futuristic vision.= > Its purpose is not = > > merely to adjust present or historical wrongs but chart out a new directi= > on for all to follow. = > > In this regards Hindu intellectuals must go to the universal roots of the= > ir tradition and find a = > > compelling vision that can gather people of all backgrounds, helping them= > break through = > > limited and unspiritual beliefs, toward a yogic vision of humanity. This = > is not to water down = > > Hindu Dharma but to revitalize it in the world today. This new Kshatriya = > must be willing to = > > spread Hindu Dharma in a dynamic way along the lines of the old Vedic imp= > ulse, krinvanto = > > vishwam aryam, make all the world noble. = > > = > > Such an intellectual Kshatriya must be based upon deep thought. It cannot= > be developed = > > through mere rhetoric, character assassination, or slogans. It requires n= > ot only a well thought = > > out critique but a positive program of action. It requires not only a Hin= > du examination of = > > religion, science and politics, but the creation of a Hindu alternative t= > o existing systems. It = > > also requires a model for revitalizing Hindu society itself. = > > = > > For those who wish to take up the role of intellectual Kshatriya there is= > much that can be = > > done. An intellectual Kshatriya must challenge media distortions, whether= > in schools, books, = > > newspapers, or in the media or the internet. It must also produce genuine= > information = > > expressing the truth of Sanatana Dharma, whether relative to history, art= > , politics, religion or = > > philosophy. This means a new revival in the field of Hindu education, whi= > ch is perhaps the = > > key factor. = > > = > > This Hindu intelligentsia must be willing to debate with other groups, in= > cluding exposing = > > their distortions and wrongs beliefs. It must resurrect the tradition of = > tarka or intellectual = > > debate that makes the darshanas or philosophies of Hinduism so significan= > t. It must create a = > > forum in which everything is critically examined so only truth remains. I= > n short, it must = > > wield the sword of viveka or discrimination, discerning the true from the= > false, and not = > > bowing down to ignorance anywhere. = > > = > > This new intellectual Kshatriya must also throw up an ethical challenge, = > which the challenge = > > of dharma, exposing the danger of exlusivist religious cults, materialist= > ic political = > > philosophies, and unchecked commercialism. The West throws its ethical ch= > allenge to the = > > world, criticizing other countries, including India, for a lack of human = > rights. This requires a = > > Hindu response. Let us take an obvious example, the same America that tri= > es to speak for = > > human rights and democracy all over the world is also the biggest weapons= > seller and arms = > > supplier in the world. The biggest buyers of these weapons are the Gulf O= > il producing = > > Islamic states, none of which are democracies and none of which have good= > human rights = > > records, yet none of which are under any American imposed sanctions. Clea= > rly the Western = > > voice of human rights is not truly dharmic but motivated by commercial an= > d nationalistic = > > interests. Hindus need to create an ethical alternative to such questiona= > ble Western = > > humanitarianism. = > > = > > For it to truly develop Hindu groups must cultivate and honor their intel= > lectual Kshatriya, = > > which not only includes listening to them but promoting their views, and = > funding their work = > > if necessary. They must stop hiding in the veil of spirituality and allow= > ing the forces of = > > adharma to rule the world and even pontificate over their religion, telli= > ng them what it is and = > > what it is worth. = > > = > > In Western intellectual circles the talk today is of a "clash of civiliza= > tions." This is mainly = > > spoken of as a clash between the West and Islam, or a clash between the W= > est and Chinese = > > culture. In this clash of world civilizations the Hindu has been recogniz= > ed as one of the = > > players but has already been written off as minor. Why is this the case? = > Because the Hindu = > > voice has only a small place in the world sphere whether politically, eco= > nomically or = > > intellectually. Clearly without an intellectual Kshatriya Hindus will not= > likely be part of this = > > churning out of a new world order. = > > = > > Now such may not be pleasant items for Hindus to hear. Should we rather n= > ot speak of = > > Rama and Krishna and forget this turmoil of Kali Yuga, some might say? Tr= > ue spirituality is = > > not an escape but a transcendence. A truly spiritual person can face the = > facts of the world, = > > however unpleasant, without having to turn away or without losing inner c= > omposure. This is = > > also the message of Rama and Krishna, if we really look at their lives an= > d actions. = > > = > > There are those who may fear that an intellectual Hindu Kshatriya may pro= > mote a new Hindu = > > fundamentalism or oppression of minorities in India. The Hindu Kshatriya = > tradition is not = > > one of aggression but of protection, not of forcing conversion to a relig= > ion but upholding the = > > Dharma. It is a tradition of holding to truth and creating a culture in w= > hich freedom to = > > pursue truth, not only in the outer world, but in the religious realm, is= > preserved. Is this not = > > what the global age really requires? It is time for that Kshatriya to ari= > se again. The extent = > > that it does will be the measure of the future of India and perhaps of an= > y dharmic revival in = > > this generally adharmic world. Let us hope that this call is heeded! Who = > is there to answer = > > it? = > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com Thu Apr 17 17:17:44 1997 From: nandsharma@lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) Date: Thu, 17 Apr 97 16:46:53 EDT Message-Id: <9704172046.AA26986@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Original-From: nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Raj Dave ji, So nice to hear from you after a long time. I had the same reaction as you did, and sent an email to Ajay earlier this morning to that effect. I just saw another email from him, and he informed me that he has already sent a press release on behalf ot he Anti-Hindu Defamation Coalition to several news papers. Also, Sony Corp. is going to issue an apology to Hindus the world over about this misuse in the next few days. Thanks to Ajay and his team that his issue got resolved rather quickly. We also have to appreciate the sensitivity of the Sony Corp., and we will be sending them a thank you letter as well. As you know there are other similar issues e.g. Ganesha statue in Disneyland ride as well as Om fragrance which we need to continue to work on. However, the resolution of this issue gives us a much needed boost. I hope we can keep in frequent touch. More later. Brotherly, Nand Kishore _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Thu Apr 17 17:38:01 1997 Message-ID: Date: 17 Apr 1997 14:36:11 -0700 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: Death Ritest : For the w To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply to: RE>Death Ritest : For the webpage... I will try to answer specific questions if you write in detail or call 310-812-9133 Thanks Namaste Babubhai Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 4/16/97 6:18 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org One of our readers has requested the following, could someone help? = Thanks.. ----- Forwarded message: From: nop27439@mail.telepac.pt (AntUnio Jr.) Reply-to: nop27439@mail.telepac.pt To: vicharak@aol.com Date: 97-04-09 07:44:53 EDT Would appreciate detailed info on the above topic.Enjoyed reading about Hindu Universe. Alves Junior _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;16 Apr 1997 17:59:07 -0700 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Wed, 16 Apr 97 = 18:13:12 -0700 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = VAA15701; Wed, 16 Apr 1997 21:11:16 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 14:24:17 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Death Ritest : For the webpage... Message-Id: = X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Thu Apr 17 19:32:49 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 19:32:08 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970417193059_1120258785@emout06.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org cc: samvad@del2.vsnl.net.in (subhashg.deo) Subject: Re: M.Swami & M. Shukla X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 04/17/1997 Dear Brothers & Sisters: My attention is drawn to the fact that the addresses I provided for Rasikabahen Swami and Umabahen Shukla wer intertwined (I do not know why- some notepad error, I believe.). Here I send them agian in proper format. My apologies and also thanks to Harishbhai Pandya for drawing my attention to this. Brotherly, Gaurang G. Vaishanv Here are the addresses: Sushree Rasika Swami 767 Windsor St., NW Orangeburg, SC 29115-5340 Tel.: 803-536-2965 Sushree Uma Shukla 6232 Sharon Acres Rd. Charlotte, NC 28210 Tel.: 704-552-9264 _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Thu Apr 17 20:18:09 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 20:17:29 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970417201644_-1803282798@emout06.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org cc: samvad@del2.vsnl.net.in (ashokjisinghal) Subject: Re: Sony Issue X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 04/17/1997 Dear Governing Council Members and Chapter Presidents/Cordiantors: Namaste from Gaurang. I join all of you in the happiness ensuing out of SONY corporation's decision to stop selling Aerosmith CD with the offensive cover and deciding to tender apolgies to the Hindu society. This has far reaching significance. One, if we are united with a purpose, results would be achieved. Second, time is of essence in public issues of this nature. Quick action rather than long philosophical discussions does yield desirable results. Third, Multinational corporations with high stakes in Bharateeya market will be sensitive to emotions of Hindus. Fourth, People not connected with VHP of America, even some Muslims ( I saw at least one name in a quick glance of protest letters) and Christians have suported us. This means that we have taken first step in attracting other organizations to our work. Now, it is up to each one of us, individually and collectively to build on this success and build true rapport with temples and Hindu minded organizations in the USA. Fifth, issues of these nature will come up from time to time- e.g., we still have on our hand issue of Shree Ganeshaji's statue in the Disneyland as well OM fragrance- and we will need a well structured organization with capability of crack commando team to identify the issues, weigh their importance, plan strategy and take the issue to its logical conclusion. This is not a one man job! You must offer your services, if you are so inclined, or/and identify people in your community with special talents and interest to strengthen this effort. Remember, there are umpteen number of articles and broadcast derogatory of Hindu society, Hindu Dharma and Bharat.. and then there are Pat Robertsons! Lastly, this herlads birth of American Hindu Anti-Defamation Coalition with a BANG!! While many people have worked on this issue, Ajay Shah from VHP of America team deserves appreciation and thanks from all of us. He was quick to identify the opportunity, plan a strategy and work at it relentlessly. Surely, Ajay has proved the benefit of being on Internet, of which he has been an advocate for a number of years. Also, our thanks go out especially to Chetna P. Tanna, Vani Chawla and Rajiv Dutta for being in the forefront of this fight and giving us valuable legal guidance and assistance. Ajay, a job well done! Please continue with the same vigor and foresight. Brotherly yours, Gaurang G. Vaishnav General Secretary _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Fri Apr 18 15:44:56 1997 From: ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Date: Fri, 18 Apr 97 15:50:06 EST Message-Id: <9703188614.AA861403459@mednet.med.miami.edu> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re[2]: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 congratulations to every hindu and to Ajay in particular. We must utilize this as much as possible morally as well as financially if possible. I agree SONY may understand the language of $ more clearly than mere words of apology. Good news! Ram Prakash Agarwal ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: NEWS FLASH : SONY Apology!! Author: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org at smtpmed Date: 4/17/97 7:10 AM Ajay: This is great news indeed. Can we somehow utilize this event (in ethnic or general media via a press release or news item) to publicize our efforts on this issue while thanking the SONY corp. for being sensitive to a Hindu issue, a win-win situation. We can perhaps get a little publicity for vigporously pursuing a Hindu issue. Thanks for your persistent efforts. Now perhaps we can get back to the Ganesh statue issue and try to strengthen the coalition, which did not happen for Sony Aerosmith issue. More later. Nand Kishore _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From YLakra@aol.com Fri Apr 18 18:54:21 1997 From: YLakra@aol.com Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 18:53:44 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970418185343_-734638901@emout19.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Press Release : AHADC Efforts Leads to Sony Apology to Hindus X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay, congratulations. You did it. This was a very commendable effort on your part. You deserve the credit for this tough job accomplished in an organized way. Yash . _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sat Apr 19 00:09:08 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 00:08:33 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970419000832_-1368739626@emout01.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Congrats from Bharat X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 04/18/1997 Dear GC members & Chapter Presidents: The following is received from VHP, New Delhi (on behalf of Mananiya Ashokji Singhal). Brotherly, Garuang ==================================================== " Dear Shri Gaurangji, We send you a warm hearted abhinandan for the withdrawal of the obnoxious Nine Lives CD released by Sony. Many from this country had immediately joined the issue(including this writer, Shri Gautam Chatterji and Shri Jai Bhan Pawaiya, Bajarang Dal President) thanks to the Internet connection. Subhash G. Deo Directoe, Media Centre" _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sat Apr 19 00:12:37 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 00:12:03 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970419001202_-1702506408@emout05.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Interesting news.. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 4/18/1997 Following is from headlines of IndiaWorld on 4/18/1997. Microphones for azaan cause sound pollution: Calcutta High Court (IE) The court rejected the prayer of 12 Muslim organisations for using microphones during azaan (call for prayer) and the two Ids in a year. Uttar Pradesh: Lucknow ban on Moharram march to stay, says Mayawati (IE) The follows disturbances earlier in the week. Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Mon Apr 21 11:06:22 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 11:05:47 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970421110543_572651201@emout20.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Interesting news.. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Gaurang Bhai, Nice to see us getting organised & getting results! I wonder if you read my letter telling about our Grandson, Nishant"s birth. Also I took some photographs of Temples for your use. Do let me know what I should do with them. Are you coming to Detroit on May 10th? Regards, Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Mon Apr 21 11:24:39 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 11:24:02 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970421112400_-1199972782@emout02.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Sony Issue X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Gaurang Bhai, Namaskaar, It good to see us getting organised & responding! I wonder if you read my letter about the birth of our grandson, Nishant? Also I brought some photographs as requested by you of some temples I visited. Please advice what you want done. May be I will see you at Detroit on May 10th. With regards, Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Tue Apr 22 09:42:42 1997 From: ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Date: Tue, 22 Apr 97 09:47:42 EST Message-Id: <9703228617.AA861727326@mednet.med.miami.edu> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: please help! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Yesterday, I went to Wall Mart and noticed that they have a lot of Nine lives CDs on display and sale. Whwn I told the manager that they should be off the shelf as Sony has recalled them, she said, that she had no information and no direction from their Head Office. I Think Sony is making us a fool, they already have brought out millions of CD's and making money. In my opinion we should make them financial liable for this. Then and then only they will listen. What action should we take against the Wall Mart in question? Please let me know. Thanks Ram Prakash Agarwal _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com Tue Apr 22 17:19:17 1997 From: nandsharma@lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) Date: Tue, 22 Apr 97 17:19:01 EDT Message-Id: <9704222119.AA21744@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Original-From: nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: please help! X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay: I believe the first step following the information from Agarwalji re. A Aerosmith Albums in large numbers at Walmart is to inform Sony's lawyer about this fact. It is possible that it may take them several weeks before they can inform all thier outlets about recalling albums, but we should find out from Sony throught their lawyer as to what their game plan is about taking these offensive (to Hindus) albus off the shelves. Can you or our lawyer follow up on this and inform the vhpgc/hindunet people? Thanks Nand Kishore _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From SSOMANI@wpsmtp.siumed.edu Wed Apr 23 10:27:21 1997 Message-Id: X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 4.1 Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 09:21:43 -0600 From: Satu Somani To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Interesting news.. -Reply Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Bhai Gaurang: I have not talked to you nor I sent you any message nor I interacted with the e-mail from so many dedicated worker of VHP of Ame. I should be participating in the internet activity which I would do now onward. We recently had a meeting in Chicago and Dr. Lakra presented the overview of many aspects VHP activities. We wish to have similar meeting in Springfield which would cover Central and Southern Illinois mid size cities and towns of Illinois, such as Carbondale, Matton, Charleston, Decatur, Bloomington, Peoria, Macomb. Each of these towns have Universities. Hopefully, we can expand our activities. We have talked to Dr. Lakra about it. We want either he or you or Dr. Mehta to participate in this meeting. We scheduled for May 18, but we will have to postpone it. I will call you about it later on. I am just leaving for Washington DC. I have been invited by US Congress to testify on "Gulf War Syndrome" on April 24, thursday. I have written quite a bit on nerve agents in my book on Chemical Warfare Agents. I will also be talking about Interaction of exercise and drugs. I have quoted Susruta in my written testimony. Susruta, the father of Indian Medicine, Ayurveda (600 B.C.), described the effects of exercise on health " EXERCISE IS ESSENTIAL FOR GOOD HEALTH, AND IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO REDUCE FAT, GAIN STRENGTH: IT SHOULD BE FOLLOWED BY MASSAGE. A MAN SHOULD EXERCISE UP TO THE ONSET OF RAPID BREATHING EVERY DAY IN ALL SEASONS; MORE THAN THIS MAY MAKE HIM ILL. STRONG WINDS AND HOT SUN MUST BE AVOIDED." (Translated by G.D.Singhal and T.J.S. Patterson, 1993, from Susruta Samhita IV.24.38.51, 75-85). This quote has a meaning for Gulf War veterans that physical exertion has potentiated the effects of drugs and chemicals. In fact I quoted this in my recent book on "Pharmacology in Exercise and Sports". This quote is being appreciated by some scientists who work in the exercise field-basic research. This is just for your information. Pl send me your tel. no. With best wishes, Satu Somani. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From SSOMANI@wpsmtp.siumed.edu Wed Apr 23 10:30:21 1997 Message-Id: X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 4.1 Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 09:25:01 -0600 From: Satu Somani To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Press Release : AHADC Efforts Leads to Sony Apology to Hindus -Reply Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Disposition: inline X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Bhai Lakraji: I am just leaving for Wash. DC. I will call you after my return. We will have to postpone the meeting. Satu _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com Thu Apr 24 16:53:08 1997 From: nandsharma@lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) Date: Thu, 24 Apr 97 16:52:07 EDT Message-Id: <9704242052.AA01644@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Original-From: nks@anuxv.mv.lucent.com (Nand K Sharma) To: ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Cc: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: PR issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay: Following your wonderful accomplishment of the successful resolution of the Sony "Aerosmith" album issue, I had sent you an email based on Ram Prakashjji Agarwal's email that he had seen lots of these albums in his local Walmart store. I do not know if you had received that mail and had a chance to follow up with the Sony lawyer who had originally called our lawyer. Please advise. Also, you had sent a press release to several news papers. Was it published? May be our VHP GC members from different areas can respond to this question. There was another good suggestion made by Vijay Pallod and communicated to me by Sh. Virendra Parikh, and that was to send a letter to various Hindu org.s including temples describing how VHP took a leadership role in mobilizing Hindu opinions working through the coalition and getting this issue resolved to our satisfaction. This will help in our future interactions with them. Please let me know what you think of this, and how we can proceed. For the next issue of Ganesha statue in the "Temple of Doom" ride at the Disneyworld, I would like to suggest that in addition to the Internet we should get a petition/letter addressed to the Disneyworld Public Relations Dept. or even their President on the Hindu Coalition letterhead as you and I had discussed several weeks ago. Many organizations or their board members still do not use Internet, and working with them with a well-drafted letter will prove to be more effective at least in the short range. If we have such a letter in the next few days, then I can take the next step of engaging our GC members in contacting their local Hindu organizations and drumming up support/get them to sign the petition etc. Please let me have your comments on this as well. What help do we need to make this happen. This weekend I will be in Detroit but I would like to followup with you next week. I will await your email response in the mean time. Best wishes. Nand Kishore _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Thu Apr 24 17:28:46 1997 From: ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Date: Thu, 24 Apr 97 17:33:39 EST Message-Id: <9703248619.AA861928084@mednet.med.miami.edu> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: PR issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 I agree that this accomplishment should be advertised or brought to the notice of most of the Hindus as an effort of VHP -HSC etc. Last week we had a Ramnavaumi celebration in Miami area which was attended by about 250 people. I made this announcement as the effort of our pariver through AHADC. It was received very positively. At least in our areas we can annouce it in temples and other gatherings because time is more important for such things. Ram Prakash Agarwal ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: PR issues Author: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org at smtpmed Date: 4/24/97 4:52 PM Ajay: Following your wonderful accomplishment of the successful resolution of the Sony "Aerosmith" album issue, I had sent you an email based on Ram Prakashjji Agarwal's email that he had seen lots of these albums in his local Walmart store. I do not know if you had received that mail and had a chance to follow up with the Sony lawyer who had originally called our lawyer. Please advise. Also, you had sent a press release to several news papers. Was it published? May be our VHP GC members from different areas can respond to this question. There was another good suggestion made by Vijay Pallod and communicated to me by Sh. Virendra Parikh, and that was to send a letter to various Hindu org.s including temples describing how VHP took a leadership role in mobilizing Hindu opinions working through the coalition and getting this issue resolved to our satisfaction. This will help in our future interactions with them. Please let me know what you think of this, and how we can proceed. For the next issue of Ganesha statue in the "Temple of Doom" ride at the Disneyworld, I would like to suggest that in addition to the Internet we should get a petition/letter addressed to the Disneyworld Public Relations Dept. or even their President on the Hindu Coalition letterhead as you and I had discussed several weeks ago. Many organizations or their board members still do not use Internet, and working with them with a well-drafted letter will prove to be more effective at least in the short range. If we have such a letter in the next few days, then I can take the next step of engaging our GC members in contacting their local Hindu organizations and drumming up support/get them to sign the petition etc. Please let me have your comments on this as well. What help do we need to make this happen. This weekend I will be in Detroit but I would like to followup with you next week. I will await your email response in the mean time. Best wishes. Nand Kishore _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Thu Apr 24 23:37:45 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 23:37:42 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970424233738_-31649255@emout18.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: More sad news.. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 04/24/1997 Dear brothers and sisters: Namaste from Gaurang. I regret to inform you that Shree Yogeshbhai Naik's mother passed away today in Bharat after a very brief illness. She was 70 years old. Yogeshbhai has left for Bharat and will return on May 9th. You may contact him/Nitignabahen at 167 Keats Ave., Elizabeth, NJ 07208. Tel. # (908) 289-8077. Early last month, Shree Girish Gandhi's mother in law passed away in Bharat at the age of 68. You may contact Girishbhai and Bakulabahen at 4 McBride Way, Bridgewater, NJ 08807. Tel. # 9908) 722-8818. On behalf of all of us, I offer heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and pray to Ishwar for granting eternal peace to the departed souls. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri Apr 25 17:54:40 1997 Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 14:33:04 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: PR issues In-Reply-To: <9704242052.AA01644@anuxv.mv.lucent.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar My e-mail ws down, so I do not know when this message was first sent. If there is a delay in response, my apologies. On Thu, 24 Apr 1997, Nand K Sharma wrote: > Ajay: > > Following your wonderful accomplishment of the successful resolution of the > Sony "Aerosmith" album issue, I had sent you an email based on Ram Prakashjji > Agarwal's email that he had seen lots of these albums in his local Walmart > store. I do not know if you had received that mail and had a chance to follow > up with the Sony lawyer who had originally called our lawyer. Please advise. 1. Sony lawyer has sent our lawyer an apology from Aerosmith, but not SONY it self yet. Although he had promised this verbally 2. We are continuing the process until we get a formal letter of apology from SONY 3. We are contacting major stores and chains almost daily, trying to request them to get the CD off the shelves. So far, Blockbuster Music is the only chain which has done this. K-Mart has said that Aerosmith is not going to manufacturing, but they have not yet pulled the CD from their own shelves. So what can we do? Well, we in our own communities can go to Wal Mart, K-mart etc. and tell the manager that we as Hindus find this CD offensive, we know that Aerosmith has formally, in writing apologized, so the store ought to pull the CD from the shelf. This is the community action that must go on in each community. > > Also, you had sent a press release to several news papers. Was it published? I have received phone calls from all major Indian/US newspapers. In may of the papers this is a first page news. I doubt that any major newspaper has missed this story. But, I would like to : 1. find out if any news paper has missed this story 2. if possible get a clipping from hte various newspapers > May be our VHP GC members from different areas can respond to this question. > There was another good suggestion made by Vijay Pallod and communicated to me > by Sh. Virendra Parikh, and that was to send a letter to various Hindu org.s > including temples describing how VHP took a leadership role in mobilizing > Hindu opinions working through the coalition and getting this issue resolved > to our satisfaction. This will help in our future interactions with them. > Please let me know what you think of this, and how we can proceed. > Sure. THis is worht doing. We have a fairly extensive listing of temples on our Temple Home page, I think that VHP office should take up the task of sending the letter > For the next issue of Ganesha statue in the "Temple of Doom" ride at the > Disneyworld, I would like to suggest that in addition to the Internet we Organizationally speaking, I do not, at this time believe that we should take up any high profile issue any time soon. Here is why : 1. We still need to do some mop-up work on the SONY/Aerosmith issue. This will take a few more weeks. 2. We need to follow a mass campaign with a consolidation effort. E.g., devise an orgnizational structure, methodology etc. for AHADC. 3. Do ground work. E.g., get supporter database, pr database etc. in correct order for future work 4. Make sure that people do not perceive us as taking issue after issue, just for the sake of publicity. So, even though the issue is genuine it needs to be spaced out. Of course, we do need to be very careful about taking up the issue, so while Ganesha issue is really important and significant, it may still need to be put on the back burner for a while (for strategic reasons). Nand Kishorji has also mentioned about the letter being sent to the heads of th organization etc. on Ganesha issue. I already have a letter to be sent to all the organizations etc. (and I had e-mailed/faxed this letter to everyone). So be assuted that all the ground work required for the Ganesha issue is already done. But IMHO, the time is not right...yet!! So what kind of issue should be taken up next? I would suggest that the next issue that is taken up does not involve as much people-to-people work as it does require work on the legal etc. aspects on our part. E.g., there is a judge in Alabama who allows 10 commandments based prayers in his court room but not Hindu prayers. Now, we as AHADC/VHP-A can file friend of the court petition etc. SO we will still stay in the nws, but since we will not be involved in any mass action program, other than those of us involved int he legal affaiirs will get a chance to consolidate the gains made in Aerosmith action. I do not foresee us taking up more than 2-4 major issues a year at least for now. We are in this for a long haul... regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Fri May 2 14:17:09 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 22:00:19 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970501215922_-1333403864@emout11.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: PR issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Ajay, Congratulation to you and your team sor a successful conclusion to the issue of Sony/Aerosmith record. I have read a good reporting by India Abroad on this issue (though they have put into very much inside. I will forward it to you by mail. I agree on new project as well as Ganesh project to do good homework and do it right. I have shared your thoughts to our local community members and now will forward earlier letter to local organization for their support. Once again congratulation for the good work, keep it up. Thank you and Best Regards, Hasit PS: Sorry for delayed reply since Conn Chapter of VHP had organized satsang during April 23rd to April 29th with Swami Pratygbodhanandaji of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam. Four day Swamaji talked on "Vision of the Geeta" ten selected verses, and talked for two days on Bhagawatam. I will provide more details in few days to you all. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ghen@www10.clever.net Sun May 4 23:15:20 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 23:14:09 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970504231407_1820003255@emout19.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-list@hindunet.org cc: kulkarni@hal-pc.org (bethkulkarni) Subject: Fwd: News Release-Texas Chapter Annual Dinner MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org 05/04/1997 Dear G.C. members and Chapter Presidents: Namaste. I am pleased to forward you this report form Houston chapter. It not only shows the consistent efforts of this chapter and its success but also their ability to promptly put out a well written press release about the event. I urge you to take a leaf from the book of Houston and report your activities (which I know that many of you are doing under VHP banner) for consumption of the media as well as for the use of this office. Well done Houston chapter! Brotherly, Gaurang G. Vaishnav General Secretary VHP of America --------------------- Forwarded message: From: kulkarni@hal-pc.org (Beth Kulkarni) To: VICHARAK@AOL.COM Date: 97-04-30 02:29:08 EDT I am sending you this news release at the request of Vijay Pallod. Beth _____________________________________________ Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America Texas Chapter News Release - April 27, 1996 Prepared by Beth Kulkarni, (713) 467-3022. Photos provided by Vijay Pallod, (281) 368-5360, x 113. VHP and HSS Youth–Active Participants in Service Project Fundraising The Annual Dinner of the Texas Chapter of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America was held Saturday, April 26, 1997, at 7 p.m. at the Gaurang Hall in northwest Houston. The purpose of the dinner was to raise funds for Hindu Students Council’s Freedom Festival 1997 and VHP-A Seva projects. In large part this fund raising program was by the youth of the community and for youth, here and in Bharat (India.) The success of the dinner, to many, lies not only in the fact that it grossed over $35,300 for charity, but that it involved the whole-hearted participation of many young people who are already becoming the leaders of their generation. The popular patriotic song “Vande Mataram” was presented by Vandan Nayak and Group. Shri Subhash Gupta, Chapter President, welcomed the guests and spoke of Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s objective to unify Hindus. He mentioned the role of VHP in the recent protest movement which led Sony and the rock band Aerosmith to replace the CD “Nine Lives” label offensive to Hindus with a non-offensive one. The Master of Ceremonies was Dr. Kamlesh Lulla, flight scientist at NASA. Throughout the evening Dr. Lulla provided inspiration and enthusiasm, whether recounting his childhood in India, his experiences at NASA or announcing the many pledges and donations. He quoted a text he has studied while he was a young professor who wanted to know more about the ancient history of India: “National feeling did not exist in India (Hindu nation) and even the martial class had little sense of patriotism.” Dr. Lulla went on to say that “this challenge we face was the same over one thousand years ago. The victory over SONY is a small step forward but we have a long way to go. But all long marches begin with a small step. Let us go further in the cause of unity.” Presentation of the plans and activities for the Freedom Festival 1997 Project of the Hindu Students Council was made by Sandeep Gupta, HSS Coordinater for the Southwest region, and members of the University of Houston Chapter of HSC. Bharat Darshan, a slide presentation incorporating writings from both Indian and Western writers was also coordinated and narrated by HSC members. A special treat was the reading of short essays by three elementary and middle school students on “What I like about India.” Visits with family as well as seeing the temples and zoos were mentioned by the youngsters. Bhava Geet was sung by Sujata Amin and Nikita Malani, young students of Prakash Nayak at Keshav Smruti. Fundraising appeals were made by Dr. Yaswant Pathak-RSS worker coordinating the Africa region and currently touring the US and meeting with all HSC chapters., Dr. Meena Parikh of Victoria, Ms. Rakhi Israni-law student at University of Houston, and Amit Misra-a founding member of HSC and local attorney. Amit recalled performing Lakshmi pooja alone in his dorm room during his first Divali away from home. A year and a half later, in April 1991, the HSC inaugural meeting was held in New Jersey . “Only six years later, and we have dozens of chapters across the country with thousands of active members.” Although the program indicated that the Seva program slide presentation would be by M. B. Shintri, a local CPA and college instructor, it was actually by his ninth grade daughter Gauri, who asked her father to allow her the opportunity to share this information with the 300 attendees. Her enthusiasm for the Seva projects was evident. Gauri’s leadership abilities have been strengthened by her weekly involvement in HSS Shaka for several years. Hindu youth award presentations were nominated by organizations having an organized youth program. They were recognized for their volunteer service and for their “making their parents and their organizations proud of them.” Dipam D. Patel and Jignesh G. Patel (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purusottam Swaminarayan Sanstha), Vairavan S. Subramanian, Jr. (Sri Meenakshi Temple), Rajat Chopra (Vivekananda Vedanta Society), Amol Desai and Radhika Makecha (Chinmaya Mission Houston), Jignesh A. Jain (Jain Society of Houston), Neal Kamal Kathuria (Arya Samaj of Houston), Gauri Shintri and Rishi Master (Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America-Texas Chapter) were honored. Vinod Patel, local pharmacist and businessman, presented the awards. Mr. Patel noted that the emphasis on youth activities and the way in which VHP defends Hinduism were two of the aspects of VHP that he appreciates. Following a delicious vegetarian dinner catered by India’s, there was a program of patriotic songs by the Vandan Nayak group. The vote of thanks was by Shri Virendra Parikh, overall coordinator of the program and national treasurer of VHP of America. Thanks to the generous donations of many families and individuals, the Texas Chapter of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America will be able to provide generous support for the Hindu Students Council’s Freedom Festival 1997 and VHP-America’s Seva projects. Even some elementary school children were inspired and gave donations from their allowances. Subhash Gupta expressed the feeling of many of the adults, stating that “our generation feels a great deal of pride and satisfaction in seeing the young people taking such an active role in the program.” _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From p479@hopi.dtcc.edu Mon May 5 00:11:57 1997 Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 00:11:38 -0400 (EDT) From: HARISH C PANDYA To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Fwd: News Release-Texas Chapter Annual Dinner In-Reply-To: <970504231407_1820003255@emout19.mail.aol.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Congratulations Texas Chapter. Job Well done. Harish Pandya _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Mon May 5 07:30:20 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 07:29:48 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970505072947_-1064672699@emout05.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: PR issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 In a message dated 97-05-02 14:39:13 EDT, you write: << Ajay, Congratulation to you and your team sor a successful conclusion to the issue of Sony/Aerosmith record. I have read a good reporting by India Abroad on this issue (though they have put into very much inside. I will forward it to you by mail. I agree on new project as well as Ganesh project to do good homework and do it right. I have shared your thoughts to our local community members and now will forward earlier letter to local organization for their support. Once again congratulation for the good work, keep it up. Thank you and Best Regards, Hasit PS: Sorry for delayed reply since Conn Chapter of VHP had organized satsang during April 23rd to April 29th with Swami Pratygbodhanandaji of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam. Four day Swamaji talked on "Vision of the Geeta" ten selected verses, and talked for two days on Bhagawatam. I will provide more details in few days to you all. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org >> _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Tue May 6 12:08:05 1997 Message-ID: Date: 6 May 1997 09:03:44 -0700 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: Fwd: News Release-Texas To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Harishji I need your mailing address. Babubhai Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 5/4/97 9:24 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Congratulations Texas Chapter. Job Well done. Harish Pandya _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;4 May 1997 21:07:57 -0700 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Sun, 4 May 97 = 21:19:01 -0700 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = AAA26636; Mon, 5 May 1997 00:12:20 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 00:11:38 -0400 (EDT) From: HARISH C PANDYA To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Fwd: News Release-Texas Chapter Annual Dinner In-Reply-To: <970504231407_1820003255@emout19.mail.aol.com> Message-ID: X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From p479@hopi.dtcc.edu Tue May 6 19:53:09 1997 Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 19:53:04 -0400 (EDT) From: HARISH C PANDYA To: Babu Gandhi cc: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Fwd: News Release-Texas In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear BabuJi Jai Shri Ram Thanks for remembering me. Where is Harish Dhru thise days. I have been trying to get in touch with him since Holi. I have 213-257-3079 as his home phone. I have left message on that number but there is no reply from there. Could you let me know his correct phone number. My address is Harish C. Pandya 26 Keith Street Newark, DE 19713 Brotherly yours Harish Pandya On 6 May 1997, Babu Gandhi wrote: > Harishji > I need your mailing address. > Babubhai Gandhi > ------------------------------ > Date: 5/4/97 9:24 PM > To: Gandhi, Babu > From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > Congratulations Texas Chapter. Job Well done. > Harish Pandya > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > > ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ > Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;4 May 1997 21:07:57 -0700 > Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Sun, 4 May 97 21:19:01 -0700 > Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id AAA26636; Mon, 5 May 1997 00:12:20 -0400 (EDT) > Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 00:11:38 -0400 (EDT) > From: HARISH C PANDYA > To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Subject: Re: Fwd: News Release-Texas Chapter Annual Dinner > In-Reply-To: <970504231407_1820003255@emout19.mail.aol.com> > Message-ID: > X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Pallod@aol.com Tue May 6 20:19:48 1997 From: Pallod@aol.com Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 20:19:15 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970506200309_550325062@emout06.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: News Release-Texas Chapter Annual Dinner X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Thanks for your comments. I will mailing pictures and other information this week. Please include Beth name in our press releases. At present I am working on 14 International Ramayan conference. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Thu May 8 07:45:42 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 07:45:10 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970508074507_1289787282@emout09.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: News Release-Texas Chapter Annual Dinner X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Thank you Gaurangbhai for the news release on Texas Chapter's activity. Congratulation to all for job well done, hope this can provide insperation to many more Chapters. Today we had an excellent oppertunity to meet Shri Yashvant Pathakji at my home and shared his experiences of his HSC tour. I have short audio tape if anyone is intrested. Pl. let me know if you like to have a copy. Best Regards, Hasit _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu May 8 19:49:48 1997 Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 16:28:02 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Urgent (fwd) Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have receied the following from Bharat. Any takers? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 14:13:36 -0700 From: vvsharma To: Ajay Shah Subject: Urgent Hare Krishna Dear Ajay Shah, BJP MLA Shri Mangal Prabhat Lodha, is visiting USA somewhere in late May, 1997, along with 5 associates. Mangalji is a strong advocate of Hindutva, and would like to meet like-minded people in the US. It would be nice if we can coordinate something, so that he can hold meetings with NRIs and speak with them. Mangalji's, itenary is currently not available, but if you are interested, and can arrange for meetings with the Indian Community, who are in favor of Hindutva, I shall send it to you. Treat this as extremely urgent, and let me know. Sincerely, Vishal Sharma. PS I may be out of India from 30th April, 1997 to 5th May, 1997. So if my reply is delayed, please do not be confused. This matter is of utmost urgency. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbando@lynx.dac.neu.edu Fri May 9 01:00:10 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199705090500.BAA09778@lynx.dac.neu.edu> Subject: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 01:00:08 -0400 (EDT) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------- How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do *----------------------------------------------------------------------* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 7 May 97 13:06:59 EDT From: "Viraj Sardesai" Subject: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Sony's disfiguring of Krishna's picture on the album 'Nine Lives' It has been nearly 3 plus weeks since the verbal apology was advertised all over the nets to the applause of HRs and others. But the cat with 'Nine Lives' had already slipped thru the net. Even now the written apology has not been received and of course no note came on HRinfo or other nets on that. Obviously, once the victory was claimed the support and need to maintain signature and letter writing campaign disappeared. No one will sign on to a campaign that is over, right ? But the written apology as well as those promised in Indian and US newspapers never arrived. Why would they, if the pressure on Sony was eased by the early victory declaration by Ajay Shah and Chetan Tanna and VaaNi. Now AHADC is threatening stronger action ! What will it be ? Gandhian hunger strike, or satyagraha or fast unto death ? The album is not doing that great anyway, only one song in # 22 slot few weeks ago. You create a ruckus, you bring the album into headlines, its sales soar, Sony profits. They did not give an apology, forget about they seeking your opinion on future releases. So who is smarter Sony or ..? Those showering accolades, will you now shower criticism too ? Or is it a family matter ? So lesson no. n ... Never ever claim victory until the surrender is in initialed. Yet, there is a way. There is a proverb -- if you close the nose, mouth will open. Only way, Sony will respond is if AHADC takes actions which will hurt Sony's motive behind the release -- profits. If you resort to violence, or protests they benefit. So that is no way. Here is what you do .. get the copy of the picture printed on the cover and original ISKON picture with color laser copiers. Write a letter addressed to all prominent Hindu singers in India and give them proof how Sony insulted Hindu sentiments and appeal to Indian singer's Hinduness to ask for a boycott by them of Sony. If not we should appeal that atleast they should double their fees when dealing with Columbia/Sony. You approach the singers thru Mangeshkars, you may /just may be will succeed. And you HAVE a contact to Mangeshkars. Once the major singers in India agree, you got Sony by the you know what. Of course thinking has always been optional. Your friendly house critic Viraj ------------------------------ Chandan cbando@lynx.neu.edu **************************************************************************** * "This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they * * alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive" * * - Vishwa Vivek * **************************************************************************** _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri May 9 13:21:31 1997 Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 09:59:26 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar, Since Chandanda has chose to post the article by a supporter of Hindutva but a consistent opponent of VHP and RSS on VHP GC Net, and chose to skip my response to this original post, I guess, I have to do it my self. Omissions, IMHO, whether intentional or otherwise can create confusion.. When a mass movement is undertaken, there are many reasons why it is undertaken, and why each step is taken etc. What is victory is also a subjective issue. E.g., most people in VHP EB and GC know that the clearly predefined *organizational* objectives of the AHADC led movement were 1. Start a Hindu Anti-Defamation movement in USA 2. Have this movement run under the name of VHP-A 3. Contact and build a database of supporting organizations 4. Contact and build a database of supporting individuals 5. Gain organizational recognition in mass media (front page on every major newspaper xcept IA, also reporting in TOI, IE etc.) 6. Gain recognition in US mainstream media 7. Ensure that the mega-corporations recognize the Hindu concerns 8. Produce tangible results, which would galvanize the Hindu community towards movements such as this (I was very encouraged by the reports that Houston program recognized this movement). I urge VHP-GC to judge the success/failure of AHADC against these pre-defined objectives I am sure that there are enough people, inside and outside, who are going to scrutinize and criticize this, or any other movement. I say to them, you are important and you are welcome, it keep those of us who are working on projects such as these on our toes. Thank you! Now, here is my original response to Viraj Sardesai : ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ajay Shah To: Viraj Sardesai Cc: hr talk Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do AHADC has planned more actions. more details will follow. However, your details are somewhat incorrect. Sony did send a written apology, only that the written apology issued by SONY (on its letterhead) was issued by Aerosmith, and propagated by SONY's PR department and legal department. The project was a success, because it was for the first time, a major gobal multi-national. It was also widely publiciszed, globally..first for the Hindu Anti-Defamation movement. From Houston to LA and NY to Chicago, I hear of a new "Can DO" spirit of Hindus due to the success of AHADC's movement. On Wed, 7 May 1997, Viraj Sardesai wrote: > > But the written apology as well as those promised in Indian and US newspapers > never arrived. Why would they, if the pressure on Sony was eased by the > early victory declaration by Ajay Shah and Chetan Tanna and VaaNi. SONY did send the Aerosmith apology...however, more action is being planned > > Now AHADC is threatening stronger action ! What will it be ? Gandhian hunger > strike, or satyagraha or fast unto death ? The album is not doing that great > anyway, only one song in # 22 slot few weeks ago. You create a ruckus, you > bring the album into headlines, its sales soar, Sony profits. > And more BLAH BLAH BLAH of your anti-Mahatma Gandhi ramblings . . . No SONY lost in the publicity battle. Album was no. 1 before the protest not after that. Sales have not sored. Your statements are, baseless (without actual numbers). > So who is smarter Sony or ..? I would guess that you are... > > Those showering accolades, will you now shower criticism too ? Or is it a > family matter ? > Please do...."family" is now used to your constructive criticism :-( > So lesson no. n ... Never ever claim victory until the surrender is in > initialed. We had our reasons to issue the press releases we issued. They may not be palatable to some or all, but as > > Here is what you do .. get the copy of the picture printed on the cover and > original ISKON picture with color laser copiers. Write a letter addressed to > all prominent Hindu singers in India and give them proof how Sony insulted > Hindu sentiments and appeal to Indian singer's Hinduness to ask for a boycott > by them of Sony. If not we should appeal that atleast they should double > their fees when dealing with Columbia/Sony. You approach the singers thru > Mangeshkars, you may /just may be will succeed. And you HAVE a contact to > Mangeshkars. Thanks...this is (finally) a good suggestion > > Of course thinking has always been optional. So is nasty criticism..I suppose. > > Your friendly house critic Your friendly in-house recepient of the criticism... > Viraj > regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From dfrv@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu Sun May 11 10:16:51 1997 Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 09:16:48 -0500 (CDT) From: Rajiv Varma X-Sender: dfrv@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: FYI: Attack on Dada Athavale Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Jagdish Parikh Newsgroups: alt.india.progressive Subject: Protest of Award to Pandurang Shastri Athavale Date: 3 May 1997 21:09:31 GMT ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 21:41:52 -0400 Reply-to: DATPERS - DAlit & Tribal PEoples Resource Site From: Sam Lanfranco Subject: Protest of Award to Pandurang Shastri Athavale To: DATPERS@YORKU.CA ----------------------------------------------------------------- Objections to Templeton Prize Award to Pandurang Shastri Athavale ----------------------------------------------------------------- With the award scheduled for May 6th, numbers of Dalit Groups and others around the globe are protesting the award being given Pandurang Shastri Athavale. During Nelson Mandela's visit to India, and in response to requests from dalit, untouchable, and other groups, Mandela had a visit to the Athavale Centre deleted from the list of visit activities. The following documents consist of: 1. A 'clip' is taken from the Web Page of the Templeton Foundation. 2. Letter from Council for Social Justice (Ahmedabad), to Ambedkar Centre for Justice and Peace (Toronto) - protesting the award. 3. Letter from Ambedkar Centre for Justice & Peace to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II asking that the ceremony be postposed while H.R.H. looks into the issue ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Clip from http://www.templeton.org/ TEMPLETON FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Donald Lehr (212) 967-8200 March 5, 1997 11:00 Hours (New York) Eastern Standard Time PANDURANG SHASTRI ATHAVALE WINS 1997 TEMPLETON PRIZE FOR PROGRESS IN RELIGION NEW YORK, March 5, 1997 -- Pandurang Shastri Athavale, founder and leader of a spiritual self-knowledge movement in India that has liberated millions from the shackles of poverty and moral dissipation, has won the 1997 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. The announcement of the award was made at a news conference today at the Church Center for the United Nations. In honor of the 25th anniversary of the prize, H.R.H. Prince Philip will present the award to Athavale at a public ceremony, scheduled to be held in Westminster Abbey on May 6th. Begun in 1972 by renowned global investor Sir John Templeton, the prize is given each year to a living person who has shown extraordinary originality in advancing humankind's understanding of God and/or spirituality. The Templeton Prize -- valued at 750,000 pounds sterling, about $1.21 million -- is the world's largest annual monetary award. With less than 20 co-workers in 1954, Athavale (pronounced Ah-TAH-vah-lee), 76, began bhaktiferi (devotional visits) to the villages around Bombay to spread a message of love for God and love for all people, considered by the workers to be God's children. Believing in self- knowledge as the preliminary condition for an inner growth that leads to a loving, enlightened, social concern and outreach, Athavale initiated the practice of swadhyaya -- a Sanskrit word that roughly translates to self-study. Swadhyaya (pronounced swah-DEE-ah) has spread to nearly 100,000 villages across India and is estimated to have directly improved the lives of 20 million people. Based on the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God), the holiest text in the Hindu religion, Athavale's philosophy asks people to recognize the inner presence of God which, he says, leads to a sense of self-esteem as well as an awareness of the divine presence within all persons. Again and again throughout India and other parts of the world, this belief that all persons are divine brothers and sisters in the family of God has led to the betterment of individuals and communities. [more material on web site: http://www.templeton.org/ ] ---------- Response from India ----------------------------- Letter Sent by Council for Social Justice [spelling errors as sent]: Council for Social Justice 236/2. Dr. Ambedkar Street, Near Futti Masjid, Dariapur, AHMEDABAD, 380 001 INDIA 1st May 1997 To: Mr. Yogesh Varhade Ambedkar centre for justice & peace, P.B. No. 846, Station - P, Toronto, Ontario Canada Dear Brother Yogesh Varhde, As per our telephonic talk, I send you excerpts from Pangurang Athvle's Sanskrit Chintan. The book in its tenth edition having ten thousand copies, publised by Vallabhdas J. Zaver, Satvichar Darshan, Vimal Jyoti, 6/8, Dr. Wilson Street, V.P.Road, Mumbai - 400004 in june 1994. The casteist, racist, facist, anti-women and anti-dalit ideas of Pandurang, which have been exposed in the excepts [from Pandurang Athavale's Sanskriti Chintan and attached as four pages to the letter] will shock all humanitarian, liberal freedom-loving people across the continent and will create justful anger against the Brhaminic Hitler of India. For us the Templeton Award being given to Athavle is like giving an award of non-vioilence to the Butcher. Let civilized society know that they are giving volumius amount and award of international prestige to such kind of a person like Athavle who is a Hitler in disguise. We support your good cause of protesting the presentation of the Templeton Award to Athavle. Like minded people in India and Gujarat will also demonstrate and mobilize against Brahminic - racist ideology. We are publishing a book titled 'Vulture's Thoughts on Culture' Please keep us informed about the developments in this regard, yours sincerely (Valjibhai Patel, Secretary) ----------------------------------- Poster's Note: The four pages of quotes from Athavale are a defense of caste, slavery, child brides, attacking the notion of 'rights', opposing women's liberation, limiting women's schooling such that "they should be taught [only] linguistic." and noting the uselessness of teaching them geometry and algebra. He referes to the (quote) "Caste system is a beautiful thing...Shudras created from legs and Brhamins from mouth... What a beautiful metaphor." He declares "Equal opportunity a fraud. "Chatur varna Vyashta (four graded caste system) comprises all ways for the making of socialist nation." ... etc. etc. ----------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- AMBEDKAR CENTRE FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE - Message to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth asking for a postponement of the award ceremony --------------------------------------------------------------------- By Fax: Toronto, 30th April 1997 [Through H.E. Romeo LeBlanc, Governor General of Canada Attention: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II London, Great Britain RE: H.R.H. Prince Phillip presenting The John Templeton Foundation Award 1997 to Pandurang Shastri Athavale in Westminister Abbey on May 6th, 1997 - POSTPONEMENT REQUEST Your Majesty: We appreciate highly the philanthropic work done by the Royal Family and its contribution to Humanity. We praise also the good work done by The John Templeton Foundation to promote the religion and science for humanity as it happened in the past through this award. Unfortunately, the selection committee failed to get all aspects of [the] contribution of Mr. Athavale including his firm blief and propagation of [the] Caste System, the practice of Untouchability and maintaining [the] "status quo' for the most marginalized people in the world - The Untouchables - 250 million in South Asia. His associates also maintain the practice of not even drinking a cup of water or eating and socializing [with untouchables] except [to have them 'singing in temples as children of God". His book "Cultural Thinking (Sanskrit Chintan) 1987, reprint '95" states clearly that "Caste System is good and must be maintained" (article enclosed {in Fax to London]). The Untouchables are still segregated, in all villages in India, including area of Athavale's work. This fact is hidden because [the] 100% controlled High Caste Hindu press in India is glorifying Athavale for keeping Caste System in-tact and thus maintaining SLAVERY. When Mr. Nelson Mandela visited India in 1994. he had to cancel his visit to [the] Athavalae Centre due to its discrimination. We have [a] lot of evidence which shows that Athavale's CLAIM of creating Castelss SOCIETY is untrue and baseless for he believes in Hindu Religion which states ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE NOT BORN EQUAL? Royal Family will definitely consider these facts for their above participation and H.R.H. Prince Phillip will be kind enough to ask for postponement of award ceremony till the evidence is verified. Dalits (Untouchables) in Great Britain and around the world are very UPSET and they are sure that the western civil society will not be the party to promote racism. With all the due respect to H.R.H. Prince Phillip and The Templeton Foundation, Dalits in Great Britain will arrange a protest march at the ceremony place if their request for postponement goes unattended, I am informed. Would you be kind enough to look into this and let us know if your request is headed, along with acknowledgment for this letter. Our Centre will certainly be thankful for your kindness. Yours sincerely in struggle for just society, Yogesh Varhade, President, ACJP [ENCL: Article on Athavale's writings, Ottawa Citizen newspaper article on Yogesh Varhade and ACJP, Press Release from U.S. dalit support group.] --------- end of ACJP letter to the Queen --------------------- end of posting - posted by Sam Lanfranco _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Mon May 12 20:14:22 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:13:42 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970512201240_1290304935@emout04.mail.aol.com> To: ajay@hindunet.org cc: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org, ashnug@aol.com (ramgoswami) Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 5/12/1997 Dear Ajaybhai: No need to even answer some of these criticisms. It is always easy to sit in armchair and second guess other's work. We Bharatiyas are very good at that any way. As one of our inspirers once said: " Our people know exactly what Morarjibhai (the then Prime Minister) should do or what Adavniji should do etc.; only they do not know what they should do". Keep up your efforts; I have no doubt in my mind that all the members of VHP GC look on your achievement in this reagrd with pride. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Mon May 12 20:57:02 1997 Message-ID: Date: 12 May 1997 17:55:19 -0700 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC a To: ajay@hindunet.org, vhpgc-l@hindunet.org, "ramgoswami" X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Ajay The awkening you have created has made these critics awake, hopefully = they will realise the next step is to do the work. Congratulations on the well start. Babubhai Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 5/12/97 5:27 PM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org 5/12/1997 Dear Ajaybhai: No need to even answer some of these criticisms. It is always easy to sit = in armchair and second guess other's work. We Bharatiyas are very good at = that any way. As one of our inspirers once said: " Our people know exactly = what Morarjibhai (the then Prime Minister) should do or what Adavniji should = do etc.; only they do not know what they should do". Keep up your efforts; I have no doubt in my mind that all the members of = VHP GC look on your achievement in this reagrd with pride. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;12 May 1997 17:13:41 -0700 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Mon, 12 May 97 = 17:16:31 -0700 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = UAA00599; Mon, 12 May 1997 20:14:36 -0400 (EDT) From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:13:42 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970512201240_1290304935@emout04.mail.aol.com> To: ajay@hindunet.org cc: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org, ashnug@aol.com (ramgoswami) Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbando@lynx.dac.neu.edu Mon May 12 21:07:39 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199705130107.VAA02822@lynx.dac.neu.edu> Subject: Clarification To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 21:07:34 -0400 (EDT) Cc: ajay@hindunet.org, ashnug@aol.com In-Reply-To: from "Babu Gandhi" at May 12, 97 05:55:19 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaste, I agree with Babuuncle. We should not forget that our greater critics are not outside of us, but within us. By doing this we can certainly identify our true friends. It was indeed a wake us call to all of us. Keep up the great work -- Ajaybhai and other team members. We are all proud of you. regards > > Ajay > The awkening you have created has made these critics awake, hopefully they will realise the next step is to do the work. > Congratulations on the well start. > Babubhai Gandhi > ------------------------------ > Date: 5/12/97 5:27 PM > To: Gandhi, Babu > From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > 5/12/1997 > > Dear Ajaybhai: > > No need to even answer some of these criticisms. It is always easy to sit in > armchair and second guess other's work. We Bharatiyas are very good at that > any way. As one of our inspirers once said: " Our people know exactly what > Morarjibhai (the then Prime Minister) should do or what Adavniji should do > etc.; only they do not know what they should do". > > Keep up your efforts; I have no doubt in my mind that all the members of VHP > GC look on your achievement in this reagrd with pride. > > Brotherly, > > Gaurang > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > > ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ > Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;12 May 1997 17:13:41 -0700 > Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Mon, 12 May 97 17:16:31 -0700 > Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id UAA00599; Mon, 12 May 1997 20:14:36 -0400 (EDT) > From: VICHARAK@aol.com > Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:13:42 -0400 (EDT) > Message-ID: <970512201240_1290304935@emout04.mail.aol.com> > To: ajay@hindunet.org > cc: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org, > ashnug@aol.com (ramgoswami) > Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do > X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > Chandan cbando@lynx.neu.edu **************************************************************************** * "This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they * * alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive" * * - Vishwa Vivek * **************************************************************************** _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From YLakra@aol.com Fri May 16 23:39:57 1997 From: YLakra@aol.com Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 23:39:25 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970516233922_-1331742677@emout10.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay, this is a belted reply, but I agree with you one hundred percent. The effort was unique and organized and achieved its objective to a great extent. The most significant achievement is it breaks a new ground in the field of Hindu behaviour. Hindus are so used to taking it lying down and nothing fazes them any more. Your efforts showed them and they will think twice before any body "messes with Hindus ", Yash. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Sun May 18 10:25:37 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 10:25:05 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970518102504_404424314@emout10.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org cc: hsc@umcc.umich.eud Subject: Re: need legal help X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 This is for anyone who wants to donate some 'legal advice time' to VHP as and when needed. Our experience tells us that in the present time of mass marketing &multi- nationals, often some item or slogen is put forth which offends a certain group. I would like to think ,some of this is just a result of ignorance, insensivity and lack of imagination. However, the people who do not raise a hue & cry are targeted again and again. So it has become our ( Hindus,that is, about issues related to us) job to do some educating as well as protesting when necessary. Therefore, we would like to enlist the help of a few attorneys who would be able to guide us whenever an occasion arises. If you are a person of appropriate background and able to help please contact the following person: Smt.Renu S Malhotra email vartalapa@aol.com Ph 616-949-2946 _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Mon May 19 05:26:32 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 05:26:01 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970519052601_114871769@emout04.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Did any one of you hear the news of withdrawl of the album by SONY on Radio program ? Haril informed me that the news was on local station. Mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Mon May 19 05:28:55 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 05:28:24 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970519052823_1391394918@emout17.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: need legal help X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Good work. Mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ameya@worldnet.att.net Thu May 22 00:25:11 1997 X-Sender: ameya@postoffice.worldnet.att.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From: VIJAY G RUIKAR Subject: Re: How Sony fooled AHADC and what we can do Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 04:24:40 +0000 Message-ID: <19970522042438.AAA25353@LOCALNAME> X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >Dear Sri Ajaybhai: In my opinion,the AHADC campaign against the nasty portrayal of Lord Sri Krishna was highly successful.You and the Hindu sisters/brothers who joined the campaign deserve the highest compliments. For those who felt that the campaign did not succeed, here is a thought from Margaret Meade,a prominent thinker and prolific writer of her time:"Let us never underestimate the power of a small group of well-meaning,concerned citizens to change the ways of the world for the better.This is indeed the only thing that has brought about any social change." Please continue the good work! _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbanerj@ccs.neu.edu Thu May 22 17:34:19 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199705222134.RAA06472@denali.ccs.neu.edu> Subject: Can we do something with these saints coming from Bharat To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 17:34:16 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: <970504231407_1820003255@emout19.mail.aol.com> from "VICHARAK@aol.com" at May 4, 97 11:14:09 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23beta2] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Namaste, Several well-known saints who were closely involved in the RJB movement in Bharat are visiting USA from first week of July to end of July. They are coming to Holland to attend a program by Maharshi Mahesh Yogi and then coming to USA again sponsored by Maharshi Institiutes in the USA. One person from LA, his name is Anshuman Misra, also a friend of Deepak Chopra has called me to see if we can organize events in various places with the Swamijis (public programs). As you know many of our workers are busy with FF97 programs, it is not the best time to have such programs in many places. However, if any of our GC member is interested to host any program please feel free to contact Shri Misra directly. Names of some of these Swamijis: Nityagopal Das, Ramchandra Paramhans, Avaidyanathji, Saileshji Maharaj and Avichal Das Maharajji. THere are several others. Two of them are MPs. Shri Misra is a Sangh sympathizer. His number is 573-443-2090, extensions 120 and 110. This is a hotel and he has a office there. Youc can leave message for him. Regards, Kanchan Banerjee _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Wed May 28 22:02:33 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 22:01:28 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970528220117_353715753@emout17.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org cc: kulkarni@hal-pc.org (bethkulkarni), Anshug@aol.com, ameya@worldnet.att.net, modhd@pfizer.com Subject: Fwd: 14th International Ramayana Conference MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org 5/28/1997 Dear Brothers and Sisters: Namaste. here is an interesting report from Houston. Our thanks to Beth Kulkarni and Vijay Pallod. Brotherly, Gaurang G. Vaishnav --------------------- Forwarded message: From: kulkarni@hal-pc.org (Beth Kulkarni) To: VICHARAK@AOL.COM CC: Hemendra.Acharya@faa.dot.gov Date: 97-05-27 21:41:08 EDT Vijay Pallod has asked me to send this to you with the request that it also be put on the Internet. I hope you find it interesting. Press Release Date: May 24, 1997 Timing: For Immediate Release Prepared by: Mrs. Beth Sharad Kulkarni (e-mail: kulkarni@hal-pc.org) Refer Questions to: Vijay Pallod (281) 368-5360 (x113) FAX (281) 368-5372 or International Chairman Shri Lallan Prasad Vyas at (281) 550-5877 (home of Usha Mehra) Photos: Krishna Giri __________________ 14th International Ramayana Conference held in Houston, Texas, May 23rd-25th featured a dance drama on the life of Lord Ram, lectures by Ramayana scholars from five continents, a grand musical evening and, according to the delegates, great hospitality. The drama, held in one of Houston’s finest theaters, Wortham Center, was presented by over thirty dancers of the East-West School of Dance of Monroe, New York and directed by Pandit Satya Narayana Charka, was the main feature of the inaugural event. Eight episodes of the life of Lord Rama were presented, climaxing in the battle of Ram and Ravana in which Ram wins with the help of the devoted monkey Hanuman. The colorful costumes, variety of music including bhajans and chanting from the Ramcharitmanas, the very dramatic style and the excellent narration by Joan Suval of the Ananda Ashram were enjoyed by the international delegates as well as Houstonians. The drama kept the interest of young and old, Hindu and non-Hindu alike. The spiritual inauguration was a week earlier at Sri Meenakshi Temple in Pearland, the third traditional Hindu temple in North American and the first temple in North America with a Goddess as presiding deity. Temple priests with Sri Upendra Ji Maharaj, a Gayatri devotee from near Kanpur, and other local priests performed a Gayatri Yagna as the beginning of the conference. Conference delegates also visited the temple on Monday as a part of the post-conference activities. They were welcomed and given a tour of the temple by Dr. G. S. Gopalakrishna, Advisory Council member and Mrs. Beth Sharad Kulkarni, former temple trustee and editor of temple publications. Saturday evening Drs. Arun Kumar Sen and Aneeta Sen and son Shekhar Sen presented “Geet Ramanyan” at Hindu Worship Society as part of a musical evening that included other devotional songs as well. The conferences began in 1984 in Lord Rama’s birthplace, Ayodhya, on the marriage anniversary (Vivah Panchami) of Shri Ram and Sitaji. According to Shri Lallan Prasad Vyas, Secretary-General of the Vishwa Sahitya Sanskriti and the Conferences International Chairman, in his inaugural speech, “man has moved far from an ideal human being in spite of achieving the utmost materialistic advancement. We therefore have to try to evolve a new world order deriving inspiration from the Ramayan. . . .Ram and his companions have not only given a perfect system for the good of the human being but it has also shown ways and means of becoming a good human being for the betterment of society.” The conference series has been an opportunity for scholars from India, South-East Asia, the Far East, Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and South America to meet and present papers and exchange ideas. This year’s section topics were “Ramayan and the Future World Order,” “Ramayan and World Literature and Culture,” “Ramayan as a Basis for Universal Dharma,” “Science, Spirituality and the Ramayan,” “Science in the Ramayan,” and “The Ramayan: A Cultural Link Among Peoples of Indian Origin.” Professor Jin Ding Han, who has translated Tulsi Das’ “Ramachritmanas” into Chinese in verse, spoke contrasting the teachings of Confucianism and the Ramayan. Of interest to many of the scholars and the topic of several papers were the many different versions of the Ramayan among the mostly non-Hindu countries of South East Asia. However, unfortunately, scholars studying the regional Indian versions of the Ramanaya were not represented at the conference. Dr. Miguel De Mora of Mexico spoke of both religious and literary aspects of the Valmiki and Tulsi Das’ Ramayanas. He stated that Ramayan has “made God within the reach of millions” as well as “made God beautiful.” Dr. Pradeepta of Indonesia expressed the universality of its message, saying that “All people, not just leaders, can learn behavior from the Ramayan.” Dr. Usha Shukla of South Africa also emphasised universality when she stated that “Ram Bhakti is for the entire world.” While many of the delegates gave a literary and/or spiritual approach to the Ramayan, Mallkarjun Rao of Osmania University approached the subject from a historical and geographical perspective. In the concluding session, delegates gave their impressions of the conference. Dr. Ding Han who conducted the 13th conference in China last year, speaking in Hindi, stated that this was the best conference yet. He was appreciative, as were many others, of being accommodated in the home of one of the local hosts. Dr. Ohno Toru of Japan spoke of the benefit of meeting many scholars of the Ramayan. Pundit Ram Lalji who has attended the conferences since their inception gave some personal insights into the conferences and the personality of their founder. Mrs. Radhika Srinivasan of Singapore who spoke eloquently on the role of Sita and her intuitive strength stated that the conference gave “food for thought as well as for the spirit.” Dr. Ramaratna, an Indian delegate, thanked all the organizers and hosts saying that hospitality was extended as never before, including transportation from the airport and around town, lodging and food. Dr. De Mora complemented the organizers saying that this was one of the best organized conferences yet. Helping to organize the conference this year were the International Hindi Association; Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, USA; and Hindus of Greater Houston, a group which sponsors community-wide celebrations of Janmashtami thus promoting Hindu unity. Mrs. Usha Mehra, local coordinator, has said that “planning the conference has been a spiritual experience. I have learned the beauty of teamwork and the strength of faith. Nearly all the Indian organizations in Houston have participated in some way, becoming a more unified community.” Youth in Hindu Student Council were among those who gave of their time and talents. This was the first time the conference which has been held in China, several other Asian countries, Europe and Canada has been held in the United States but hopefully not the last. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Thu Jun 12 17:14:19 1997 Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 13:18:40 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A trip to Wal-Mart last night revealed that Aerosmith has replaced the old offending cover with a redesigned cover. All the CDs I found in our local store had this new jacket. Once again, my profound thanks to all those who contributed to this cause. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Fri Jun 13 05:47:08 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 05:46:38 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970613054637_781041779@emout02.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay: Excellent work done by you thru e-mail. It has demonstrated the power of this new tool in tackling issues. Regards Mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Fri Jun 13 09:46:58 1997 From: ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Date: Fri, 13 Jun 97 09:51:44 EST Message-Id: <9705138662.AA866220528@mednet.med.miami.edu> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay Congratulations on the work well done.It was a bold step. And definitely has made an impact. With regards Ram Prakash ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News Author: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org at smtpmed Date: 6/12/97 5:22 PM A trip to Wal-Mart last night revealed that Aerosmith has replaced the old offending cover with a redesigned cover. All the CDs I found in our local store had this new jacket. Once again, my profound thanks to all those who contributed to this cause. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Fri Jun 13 12:34:57 1997 Message-ID: Date: 13 Jun 1997 09:20:16 -0700 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Ajay My daughter's wedding is on 16 June Monday at Los Angeles. Please try to attend. I invite all our families (GC) and Sangh Pariwar. Babu Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 6/13/97 7:10 AM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Dear Ajay Congratulations on the work well done.It was a bold step. And definitely has made an impact. With regards Ram Prakash ______________________________ Reply Separator = _________________________________ Subject: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News Author: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org at smtpmed Date: 6/12/97 5:22 PM A trip to Wal-Mart last night revealed that Aerosmith has replaced the old offending cover with a redesigned cover. All the CDs I found in our local store had this new jacket. Once again, my profound thanks to all those who contributed to this = cause. regards, ajay _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org= Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;13 Jun 1997 06:46:09 -0700 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Fri, 13 Jun 97 = 06:48:48 -0700 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = JAA09528; Fri, 13 Jun 1997 09:47:01 -0400 (EDT) From: ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Date: Fri, 13 Jun 97 09:51:44 EST Message-Id: <9705138662.AA866220528@mednet.med.miami.edu> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri Jun 13 12:55:07 1997 Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 08:58:58 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News In-Reply-To: <970613054637_781041779@emout02.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar Maheshbhai Thank you for the message. Although you are correct in saying that this project demonstrated the power of a new tool, i.e., internet, in achieving our ends, I think that it demonstrates something else more profoundly. This "something else" is the fact that using the VHP name, we can gather people together, from around the world, and focus them on a Hindu issue. People will follow, if we provide the lead. The HSC experiment has shown the same thing, and so has the American Hindu Anti-Defamation experiment. Novelty of e-mail will wear someday, perhaps sooner rather than later, but the urge of Hindus to unite on issues, and our need to cater to this urge will remain. regards, ajay On Fri, 13 Jun 1997 MJMEHTA@aol.com wrote: > Dear Ajay: > Excellent work done by you thru e-mail. It has demonstrated the power of this > new tool in tackling issues. > Regards > Mahesh > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From HHParikh@aol.com Fri Jun 13 22:07:03 1997 From: HHParikh@aol.com Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 22:06:26 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970613220624_254631803@emout12.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Happy to get Maheshbhai's E mail in good news on Sony saga. Congratulation to Ajay and his team for job well done from VHP Conn Chapter. As I have started learning more about internet I visit Temple site quitr often. I have not fully visited every item in the site. I really enjoy very much to visit comment page. As I meet people at various ocassions , try my best to inform them about Temple site on internet. Hope more organizatioins can take adventaof such a good work. Best Regards, Hasit _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Sat Jun 14 06:31:20 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 06:30:49 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970614063049_338554924@emout07.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Ajay: Compliment for good work is not meant to give less importance to other vital matters. Regards Mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sun Jun 15 12:13:41 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 12:13:10 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970615121308_38684256@emout01.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Article 1 of 3... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary="PART.BOUNDARY.0.24731.emout01.mail.aol.com.866391188" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --PART.BOUNDARY.0.24731.emout01.mail.aol.com.866391188 Content-ID: <0_24731_866391188@emout01.mail.aol.com.2824> Content-type: text/plain June 15, 1997 Dear Brothers and Sisters: Namaste from Gaurang. With this, and tow more mails I am forwarding three interesting articles to you that I found on http://www.redifindia.com site. Two are written by Varsha Bhosle, daughter of smt. Asha Bhosle; one is written by Fuzail Jafferey. these article are in .htm format, which you should be able to open without any difficulty. If you have problems, let me know and I will try to convert them to .txt format and resend to you. I plan to forward interesting and relevant articles/news from time to time. If you would rather not receive it, please drop me a line, and I will take off your name from the mailing list. Thank you. Brotherly yours, Gaurang --PART.BOUNDARY.0.24731.emout01.mail.aol.com.866391188 Content-ID: <0_24731_866391188@emout01.mail.aol.com.2825> Content-type: text/plain; name="AZAN.HTM" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Rediff On The NeT: From euphony to a noise
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From euphony to a noise

There is nothing new about the controversy over th= e use of microphones for giving the azaan, or the Muslims's call to prayer.

Time and again, people in different parts of India, have objected to the use of microphones for azaan. But most state governments have evaded taking a stand on the issue, not wanting to displease Muslim citizens, already hypersensitive about religious matters. A ban on using electronic methods to amplify the azaan would most definitely be interpreted as yet another attack on Islam, it is generally feared.

Yet the irony is that the first ban on the use of microphone for giving the azaan was imposed in Calcutta some time ago by the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led coalition. The party has been ruling the state of West Bengal, of which Calcutta is the capital, for nearly two decades and enjoys the massive support of the Muslim electorate.

Had a similar ban been imposed in a state like Maharashtra or Rajasthan, the government's action would have been immediately termed anti-Muslim or even anti-Islam. But the Left Front government of West Bengal cannot be termed religiously communal by any stretch of imagination.

Recent Indian history has been witness to dozens of bloody clashes between religious communities, taking a heavy loss of life and property, all on very petty issues such as beating of drums in front of a mosque or the throwing of some coloured water on a mosque's outer walls.

A little patience on the part of Muslims would have been of great help in avoiding such uncalled for bloodshed.

If the ban in Calcutta did not spark violent incidents, the credit goes to the new-found pragmatism of the city's Muslims and their ulemas (religious leaders) who have of late begun to differentiate= between emotion and reason.

However, despite all the pragmatism, Calcutta's Muslims did not accept the order in complete passivity.

Twelve Muslim organisations went to the Calcutta high court, challenging state Home Minister Budhadev Bhattacharya's ban order. They pleaded that the ban on the use of loudspeakers for azaan was undemocratic= and infringed the religious rights of the minority community.

After a few hearings Justice Bhagbati Prasad Banerjee upheld the ban. The judge even refused to modify the orders by allowing the use of microphones for azaans only twice a year on the occasions of the Eid festivals.

According to the newspaper reports Justice Banerjee has been, since then, provided with a police escort and a police picket has been posted at his residence.

Fortunately, no untoward incident has occurred even after two weeks of the judgement despite the subtle instigation by certain Congress leaders such as former federal minister Ajit Panja and the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee Minority Cell chief Idris Ali.

Now how important is the azaan to Muslims.

Namaz (a strict daily five-prayer schedule) is the basic tenet of Islam and the azaan is an integral part of namaz. It is obligatory for every believer to proceed to the nearest mosque as soon as he hears the azaan.

According to the Bukhari, the most authentic compilation of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) sayings and pronouncements, "All those who hear the muezzin's cry will testify for him on the Day of Resurrection."

On another occasion the Prophet (peace be upon him) pronounced that "The hand of the All-Merciful is on the muezzin's head until he completes his call to prayers."

The greatest and most respected muezzin in the history of Islam was Hazrat Bilal, a Negro companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Bilal's azaan, specially for the pre-dawn prayer would send believers into ecstasy with its magical, melodious, modulated and absorbing rendition.

=46rom 6 AD till the proliferation of electronic instruments some decades ago, muezzin's all over the Muslim world were held in high esteem. Only such people who possessed extremely sweet and vibrating voice and were specially trained for the holy job were appointed muezzins.

Their modulated voice was only loud enough to have an intimate relationship with the faithful and would engage respectability in its delivery.

Pakistani scholar S N Burney has this to say: "The call for the morning prayer from a distance, without mechanical aid, carries the mystic worlds like ocean waves, now soft, now loud, beckoning Muslims to the path of salvation, treated by their forefathers with great love and devotion."

In recent times, the basic qualities of Islam such as love for fellow beings, humility and patience have been replaced by emotional aggression and ill advised competition in almost every walk of life.

It is a sad commentary on Muslims, particularly those living on the Indian sub-continent, that while the numbers of the faithful visiting mosques has drastically fallen, the number of mosques continues to increase unabated.

If one Muslims sect has a mosque in a particular locality, other sects won't lag. The followers of one god and one Prophet (peace be upon him) insist on having separate mosques for people belonging to different creeds such as the Hanafi, the Shafai, the Humbli and the Razakhani.

Today it is possible to find at least half a dozen mosques within a half kilometre radius. Each mosque, however small, has at least three to four loudspeakers hooked to an electronic system.

The azaans, coming from different mosques at the same time, are jumbled in a cacophony and the message is lost. The mystic words are drowned in a deafening noise. Hoarse, crude sounds in the name of azaan now disturb the early morning peace of the sleeping babies, the insomniac old and the sick.

The azaan is supposed to draw people closer to god but if the muezzin does not have a sweet and modulated voice, his noise can have the exact opposite effect.

Burney has an ancient anecdote do illustrate the point. Centuries ago when Islam was still in the process of taking roots among the primitive society of Arabia, a caravan of Muslims halted near a settlement of non-believers.

At dawn, the tribal chief of the caravan took upon himself to give the azaan. Elders advised against it as they had brought with them a trained muezzin. But the chief insisted and his call reverberated through the neighbouring villages and settlements.

The caravan had hardly finished praying when they saw a dust storm closing on them from the direction of the settlement of non-believers. When it cleared, they saw a group of horsemen. One of them, who appeared to be their leader, approached the caravan and politely enquired as to who had called for the prayers.

The caravan pointed out the chief. The leader of the horsemen took out a bag, full of golden coins, and other precious gifts and offered them to the chief. Nonplussed, he asked what the occasion for the gifts was.

The leader of the non-believers answered: "My daughter, old enough to know her mind, has been insisting on converting to Islam for a very long time. We had a lot of argument but she would not listen. And then this morning our gods sent you. When she heard your call for prayers she gave up the idea of embracing Islam."

Yet another anecdote is about Sheikh Saadi, the great Sufi poet and scholar from Iran of the medieval age. Acceding to the Shaikh was a muezzin in the city of Sinjar (now Persia) whose voice was very unpleasing and annoyed the faithful. One day the chief trustee of the mosque called him and said: "To the muezzin employed before you I paid five dinars per month. I will give you ten dinars every month if you shift elsewhere."

Microphones kill the magic of the muezzin's voice. They cannot stir the souls of the believers. While the muezzin's modulated and trained voice provides divine inspiration to listeners, the blaring of loudspeakers simply irritates.

Amplifiers distort even the most melodious of voices into most dissonant notes and scare the lives out of many. Moreover, our watches and alarm clocks and over and above all the fear of god is the greatest instrument to call us to prayers.

We should not forget that religion should soften our hard lives and behaviour. Islam very clearly teaches the principles of adjustment and reconciliation. The amplifier must be replaced by a muezzin whose voice is pleasant, agreeable and trained so that he can pronounce the divine word rhythmically and with cleric correctness.

Tell us what y= ou think of this column

Fuzail Jafferey
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--PART.BOUNDARY.0.24731.emout01.mail.aol.com.866391188-- _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sun Jun 15 12:14:50 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 12:14:19 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970615121417_945839584@emout07.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Article 2 of 3... X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 6/15/1997 Dear Brothers & Sisters: Namaste. Here is the article number two. Brotherly, Gaurang _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sun Jun 15 12:20:52 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 12:20:21 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970615122021_-993291932@emout06.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: oops! Article 2 of 3.. MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary="PART.BOUNDARY.0.29464.emout06.mail.aol.com.866391620" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --PART.BOUNDARY.0.29464.emout06.mail.aol.com.866391620 Content-ID: <0_29464_866391621@emout06.mail.aol.com.2812> Content-type: text/plain Subj: Article 2 of 3... Date: 97-06-15 12:14:58 EDT 6/15/1997 Dear Brothers & Sisters: Namaste. Sorry, I forgot to attach the file last time. Brotherly, Gaurang --PART.BOUNDARY.0.29464.emout06.mail.aol.com.866391620 Content-ID: <0_29464_866391621@emout06.mail.aol.com.2813> Content-type: text/plain; name="VB_IN_~1.TXT" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Commentary/ Varsha Bhosle In the name of the Lord =0D Parochial as one is, it was not long before I went looking for traces of = amcha Maharashtra in the ether. What I found has put the fear of Christ in me: At www.betha= ny-wpc.org, site of the Louisiana-based Bethany World Prayer Center, there are several kiloby= tes devoted to a detailed analysis of Marathis =96 with a view to converting the same to C= hristianity. Don't worry, we ghaatis aren't special: The same treatment's been given to othe= rs, too, all of whom are sought to be delivered to His Eternal Kingdom. There are "The Di= aspora Gujarati", Punjabi, Sindhi, Bengali, etc =96 with international subgroups= like Kenyan Gujarati, Spanish Sindhi, too. Scheduled Castes and Tribes? Bethany knows 'em all. = Its Joshua Project 2000 List acts as a base for missions and organisations on their = crusade, and helps "mobilize the cell churches worldwide to pray for the Unreached Peoples".= =0D And how detailed is detailed? An example: 'The Marathi villages located i= n the coastal regions of the Arabian Sea consist of long streets that run north and sou= th, with houses on either side=85 The tribes that live in the hills are practically cut off = from those in the plains=85 They have a great need for stability =96 something that can only be found= through knowing Christ.' If that weren't panic-making enough, there follow these "Prayer = Points": Pray against the spirits of Hinduism and Islam that have kept the Marathi bound for ma= ny generations. Ask the Lord to raise up people who will go to India and share Christ's l= ove with the Marathi. Pray that God will raise up prayer teams to go and break up the = soil through worship and intercession. Ask God to grant favor to the missions and agen= cies that are targeting the Marathi. Ask the Lord to raise up strong local churches amo= ng the Marathi for the glory of His name... =0D That's a helluva lot of praying and asking, and I doubt if it stays confi= ned tojust that =96 considering the terms "raise up", "break up", "intercession" and "targeti= ng". For instance, have you heard of the forced conversions in Dharavi? On May 1, Bombay Tim= es reported (with photographs of the wounded) that the Christian goondas of Jesuit mi= ssionaries assaulted one Meenakshi Nadar and stabbed her nephew Muthu and his friend= because they resisted conversion. An FIR was lodged with the police =96 who did not ta= ke action (probably in fear of secularists screaming murder against "defenseless" minorities)= =2E There are 40 churches in Dharavi alone, and 500 Hindu families have been converted. =0D I thought of Mother Teresa, who had once told Malcolm Muggeridge, 'There = is always the danger that we may become only social workers or just do the work for the= sake of the work.' Not for 'the living saint' a secular labour to relieve poverty; an= d how apart the idea from karmanye-vaadhikaraste=85 (toil without expecting the fruits of labo= ur). In his biography, Christopher Hitchens mentions secret baptisms of the dying who= are asked if they want a "ticket to heaven", and concludes that Teresa is "a servant of ear= thly powers" and works for a "very politicised papacy". Her pals include Haiti's Jean-Clau= de Duvalier, Washington's corrupt mayor Marion Barry and Charles Keating, the Californ= ian banker who was jailed for swindling investors out of $252 million and had given her = $1.25 million. In fact, during Keating's trial in LA, the Mother wrote to Judge Lance Ito seeking= clemency for Keating. Since she had Judge Ito's name, exact designation and address mu= ch before the OJ Simpson case made him a household name, it's safe to assume that the sain= t has more temporal powers guiding her. =0D Like most Hindus, I once believed that Ma Teresa's giving succour to Calc= utta's unfortunate was reason enough to turn a blind eye to the conversion undertaken by her= mission. After all, if we cannot look after our own, we have no right to whine when somebody = else reaps whatever benefit from doing so. Now, I refute it. Catholics continue to t= ake conversion on a war-footing, and the problem has assumed dimensions far beyond religion b= y entering the scope of politics and, more significantly, demography. Conversion is not = a holy, beneficial act of faith =96 it never was =96 but the systematic handling of the Josh= ua Project indicates to me that if it remains unchecked, religious conversion has the potential to d= estroy India. It's no use citing what the European explorers, whether Columbus, Da Gama= or Cook, all armed with Papal Bulls, did to heathens centuries ago; how they "civilise= d" the world by converting/exterminating the others. For a whole millennium, the proselyt= ising Semitic found easy prey in Hindus, Africans, native Americans, South Americans, Aborigi= nes and Asian peoples. Europe enslaved them politically, robbed them of national assets= , burned them in trade, crushed their spirits, drove two-thirds of humanity to poverty and= starvation and =96 more crucially =96 broke their cultural backbones by instilling values co= ntrary to their ethos. But that's all water under the bridge now. The question is, has the White= man stopped carrying his burden? For, mentalities don't change; only modalities do. =0D And yet, I don't take issue with what missionaries are furtively doing in= India =96 if they succeed, they deserve credit for their tenacity. I don't want to stop eva= ngelists from coming here =96 just as I wouldn't want others to bar swamis and lamas. The Cons= titution of India allows freedom of religious practice; but it also prohibits forced conver= sion, *induced* conversion and conversion motivated by non-voluntary actions =96 all of w= hich laws have been rendered impotent by the ignorance of the masses, the treason of vote-ban= k politics, and the propaganda of self-serving communists and secularists. It's the latter wh= o make me see red. For the right way to combat conversion is by abolishing caste divisions f= rom and reviving pride in Hinduism. Hindutva? O me gawd, but that's so antithetical to bei= ng modern and civilised and enlightened! "Garv se kaho hum Hindu hai" is simply "Seig H= eil"! =0D The secularists' rebuttals will go thus: Bethany is part of the "lunatic = fringe" (but we won't damn it like we do the Bajrang Dal). No Western nation can ever support s= uch a league (and we aren't interested in where the funding comes from). There's no ne= ed to panic since conversion can't make a dent in the Hindu population (it isn't fair that = Hindus are a majority, anyway). The VHP keeps similar track of Indian groups (so why shouldn't f= oreigners?). It's wrong to halt others from serving the destitute (since we won't do it, an= d will slam the RSS for doing so, too). Or, "I'm not religious; there are so many more urgent= issues at stake" (like looking into, er=85 secular riots). For, no matter what proof is presente= d, Hindutwadis always live in a fantasyland, with their Fascist propaganda machine blaming the = problems of the country on minorities. No matter what Christian history and Islamic Khila= fat indicates, there simply cannot exist a collusive agenda to overrun Hindus of India. =0D To which I say: Now take a look at the Joshua Project, ponder over the Va= tican's programme Evangelisation 2000, then look back and see where the original = religions of the peoples of Albania, Africa, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, blah, blah,= have vanished: Do you see a parallel... I'll bet you won't. You lack the requisite percepti= on. Politics in the garb of religion is a fact of life: As Jomo Kenyatta said in Absurdities in th= e name of Religion, "When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the mission= aries had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they ha= d the land and we had the Bible." =0D Hindustan has already been partitioned on communal lines =96 thanks to co= nversion upsetting its demography. In north-eastern India, conversion among tribals continue= s unabated; in Arunachal Pradesh alone, about 10,000 people join the church every year; = in Kerala, a battery of 29,000 full-time workers, including nuns and priests, has been= put into action for Evangelisation 2000; in the Central tribal and dalit areas, the so-called= "delicate belt" of Hinduism, millions are poured in under the name of Christian charity. "Du= ring the last 30 years, the Catholic population increased ninefold to 90,000", brags an of= ficial church report. And even when the poor convert, do their problems disappear? Sure, pigs h= ave wings. Which is why we have Christian dalits and Muslim chamaars clamouring for = reservations. I have tried to present the facts. But facts don't matter much in the sec= ularist's dim little world. It's much easier to remain ignorant and much more popular to jump = up and down frothing at the mouth and denouncing everything you don't like in your sh= rillest =96 but oh-so-secular =96 voice. Especially if you are doing something as PC as t= ongue-lashing Hindutva. Facts can be mortifying, so cowards just ignore them. Courage l= ies in facing up to charges, examining them critically, and swimming against the PC stream if= needs be. No religion in the world is perfect. Pretending that ours is would not serve= any purpose =96 but it's the only religion we have, and it's a darn good one, at that. =0D Bethany says, "The Church cannot afford to wait until caste is not an iss= ue in India, as that day will probably not arrive until Jesus returns. If the Church thinks In= dia can reform the caste system by itself, perhaps millions of souls will perish while the C= hurch waits for the unbelievers to do in the strength of their flesh what has been hard to ac= complish in the Spirit". Hmmm=85 If I was in the crowd when Jesus asked the people who have never = sinned to cast the first stone, yes, I'd have chucked a boulder =96 provided it was a se= cularist in place of the woman: After all, poor Mary Magdalene prostituted only her own body. =0D Tell us what you think of this column Varsha Bhosle --PART.BOUNDARY.0.29464.emout06.mail.aol.com.866391620-- _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sun Jun 15 12:22:42 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 12:22:11 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970615122208_488940005@emout09.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Article 3 of 3... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary="PART.BOUNDARY.0.8693.emout09.mail.aol.com.866391728" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --PART.BOUNDARY.0.8693.emout09.mail.aol.com.866391728 Content-ID: <0_8693_866391728@emout09.mail.aol.com.2878> Content-type: text/plain 6/15/1997 Dear Brothers & Sisters: Namaste. here is the last article. Brotherly, Gaurang --PART.BOUNDARY.0.8693.emout09.mail.aol.com.866391728 Content-ID: <0_8693_866391728@emout09.mail.aol.com.2879> Content-type: text/plain; name="VB_FIR~1.HTM" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Rediff On The NeT: Varsha Bhosle on the ways of Shivaji
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Commentary/ Varsha Bhosle

=

First Blood

What with Raja Shiv Chhatrapati's birth anniversar= y falling in May, newspapers in Shiv-Sena-ruled Bombay have been indulging in a bit of subtle local appeasement. For instance, there was this momentous question posed in The Asian Age: 'Was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who united the people of Maha= rashtra and welded them into a Hindu kingdom, a Maratha or a Rajput since he belonged= to the lineage of Sisodiyas?' According to Dr S B Deshmukh, curator of the M= arathwada university, the correct answer is that not only was Raja Shivaji a Marath= a, but every Rajput is a Maharashtrian by origin. Quite plausible. So of course,= Bhosle felt suitably mollified for the three minutes it took to read the = thing, and then promptly became absorbed in the monkeyshines of Laloo Prasad Yad= av.

But then appeared an item which, frankly, I could have done without: The recently-released first volume of Mr G B Mehendale's magnum opus Shri= Raja Shiv Chhatrapati proves with documentary evidence that Adil Shah of Bijap= ur had dispatched Afzal Khan to Pratapgarh with specific orders to kill Shivaji = by means fair or foul. For those who aren't acquainted with this controversi= al episode in the life of the founder of Hindu-pad badshahi, here's= the popular recap: Afzal Khan, after requesting an unarmed meeting and assuring Shiva= ji of his safety, met him in a tent at the base of Pratapgarh, but stabbed him = in the back while embracing him. Thereupon, Shivaji, who had worn armour under h= is clothes and concealed a pair of steel-claws (waagh-nakh, worn li= ke knuckle-busters) in his hands, proceeded to rip open Afzal Khan's abdomen= =2E Khel khatam.

Now, this tale, which is fed to Marathi babies along with their first sol= id food, has been the centre of several disputes and acrimonious exchanges b= etween scholars, most raged in the media. The point of contention has been wheth= er Shivaji went for Afzal Khan, or vice versa =96 the implication being that= if Shivaji did, then he doesn't deserve the unstinting adoration that is his= lot in Maharashtra.

Which is precisely the point that Bhosle has never understood =96 and whi= ch is why Mr Mehendale's QED came as a major disappointment to her. You see, I'= d rather staked my all in Raja Shivaji's having made the first and "unprovo= ked" attack. I question the validity of virtue in wars of independence; Sun Tz= u says: = "All warfare is based on deception. Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means takin= g the offensive. Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength." Why should those who perceive Shivaji as a native ruler seeking Hindvi swarajya<= /EM> get hives over the ethics in who drew first blood? In fact, if Afzal Khan had inde= ed gone in as innocent as a spring lamb, and Shivaji wouldn't have slaughtered hi= m all the same =96 that would have made him one wimp king in my book.

Take Prithviraj Chauhan and Shahabuddin Ghori: Seventeen times did Chauha= n defeat the Afghan, and seventeen times did he let him live. But in 1192, = when Chauhan finally lost, Ghori blinded and killed this last Hindu king of De= lhi =96 and established Muslim rule in India. I'm sorry, but I curse the Rajput's= ethics. Hindus exalt dharma-yuddha, ignoring the fact that the s= ide advised by Krishna didn't always follow morality in warfare: Karna was killed while dislodging his chariot-wheel; Duryodhan was slayed by a mace struck below= his waist; and Dronacharya was attacked after he had laid down his arms. Plai= n old realpolitik: The Pandavs were forced to act in the real world with all it= s limitation, for the ideal world does not exist=85 So why shouldn't have S= hivaji, whom Nehruvians call "the robber-baron", sacked Udaipur and Surat to dive= rt the Islam-bound taxes to his army? But that sticks in the enlightened ones's gullets.

I recall an article in The Illustrated Weekly of India of April = 1993, wherein Nancy Adjania, in classical Marxist thinking and idiom, had dwelt on Rana= Pratap, Chhatrapati Shivaji and Rani Laxmibai; in the case of Laxmibai, t= here were references to Maaza Pravas, a book written in hyper-archaic= Marathi. Where the young linguistic genius is now, I don't know, but her ideas are famil= iarly Duff: "It becomes imperative for a nascent nation to produce a costume dr= ama for itself, in lieu of the past. The nation's origins and antecedents are= explained away by means of a series of tableaux vivants, splendidly mount= ed by adept ideologues within the proscenium of mythology. The first function o= f this nationalist mythology is the creation of exemplars, role models. For this= purpose, cultural heroes and heroines are abstracted from the intricate cross-weave of their original context. Deprived of the political and cult= ural specificities of which they were actually the creatures, they are convert= ed into larger-than-life figures."

I know=85 I, too, had trouble decoding it. In human lingo, all it means i= s: Screw India's nationalistic heroes. The piece ended with a poem by Imtiaz Dhark= ar, wife of Anil Dharkar, who, as editor of the same weekly, had published an= article critical of Chhatrapati Shivaji =96 ie, disputing his integrity i= n the light of Afzal Khan's assassination =96 and got his face blackened by Sai= niks. The British, through the likes of historian Grant Duff, systematically tr= ied to decimate the spirit of our people by denigrating India's inspiring heroes= -- and that hangover persists with our intelligentsia.

Their attitude makes me ponder on Hindus and nationalism. Freedom fighter= s like Lokmanya Tilak, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Veer Savarkar followed the= Vedanta and were no less devout than Mahatma Gandhi. They followed a long= tradition instilled by the likes of Raja Shivaji and Guru Gobind Singh wh= o took up arms to defend Hindu Dharma. Nor were spiritualists like Sri Aurobindo= and Swami Vivekananda oblivious to terrestrial realities: Aurobindo supported= the Allied cause in World War II and the Americans in the Korean war =96 cont= rarily to Gandhian positions. They were the legacy of the likes of Samarth Ramda= s and Sant Tukaram. The latter writes: Bhale tari deu kaasechi langoti / Na= athalaache maathi haanu kaathi / Mau mena-huni amhi Vishnudaas / Kathin vajraasi bhe= du aise (We may give away our loincloth, but we'll split the heads of t= he enemy; we Vishnu-devotees are softer than wax, but we can defy solid steel).

So when exactly did we become a nation of eunuchs? Probably during Partit= ion, when it was decided that Hindu society should follow the way of the b= hikshu, and donate all and everything to the "poor and defenseless". Classical In= dia was an affluent society with a strong army and skills in diplomacy, and s= o some blame Buddhism for the degeneration in Hindu nationalism. Rubbish. Althou= gh Buddhism doesn't have a militant dharma and is monastically orie= nted, how was it adapted to suit the patriotic bents of China and Japan? = Why did it not put an end to the warrior classes in those countries? In fact, both nations flourished through Buddhism, adapting Indian martial arts into kung fu an= d jujitsu and even creating orders of militaristic monks. Bodhidharma, the = founder of Zen Buddhism, was from Kodungalloor in Kerala, and he introduc= ed the Kalari Payat school of combat to the Shao-lin monastery in China.

The ideal of nonviolence set in motion a distortion that has weakened mod= ern India. Rather than defending our religion and culture, we turn on those o= f us who try to rectify the imbalance caused by sham-secular policies. If Hind= us criticise non-Hindus, it's Hindus themselves who protest. But if non-Hind= us censure Hindus, it is Hindus again who advocate serenity and tolerance. I= believe this groveling mentality needs to be shirked =96 there's no digni= ty in getting kicked in the teeth. India needs to reclaim its aggressive spirit= , for that is an integral part of any prosperous nation's culture. We need to h= onour not only our Shivajis and Rana Prataps, but also our Savarkars and Bhagat= Singhs and Manekshaws and Vaidyas. There is no other country in the world= that is so ungrateful to its warriors as India is to hers.

Jawaharlal Nehru and his Congress built modern India not on Gandhian poli= cies, but on Marxist socialism; they built it not on Gandhiji's rural = emphasis, but on apparatchik bureaucracy =96 which became more and more like the Commun= ist model during Mrs G's reign. But all along, the image of Gandhiji= was brazenly used to secure votes =96 even though most of his plans had long been disc= arded. And his exemplar of nonviolence served well to prevent Hindus from coales= cing into a political force, for that oiled the way for politicians to divide = the majority and rule unchecked. It became part of the anti-Hindu strategy=85= Strange. For Gandhijiwas always proud to be a sanaatani= Hindu and had never claimed not to be one.

Oh yes, things look very bleak sometimes. For instance, in a nation-wide = poll conducted by The Sunday Observer last week, it was found that 59= =2E4% of the working class would vote for Sonia Gandhi=85 What now? Or take these noti= ons from your archetypal secularist: What does one say to a man who claims, "we re= ally do not give a damn if India loses Kashmir or any other piece of land that= is not livable"? How does one approach a person who feels that needs like fo= od and shelter are more primary than "coffee table concepts like territorial integrity"? How does one react when a man feels that economic prosperity (paisa, paisa, paisa) is far more crucial than freedom? Don't kn= ow about you, but I react with utter distaste, contempt and horror. If such specimens e= ver become the majority in this country, oh yes, they'll smilingly sell India= down the Indus. Such is the stuff that traitors are made of.

Tell us what y= ou think of this column

Varsha Bhosle
3D"E-mail"

Home = | News<= /FONT> | Busin= ess | Cricket= | = Movies= | Chat
Travel = | Life/Style = | Freedom= | Infot= ech =
Feedback

Copyright 1997 Redif= f On The Net
All rights reserved
 =0D
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.8693.emout09.mail.aol.com.866391728-- _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ameya@worldnet.att.net Sun Jun 15 17:34:32 1997 X-Sender: ameya@postoffice.worldnet.att.net (Unverified) X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From: VIJAY G RUIKAR Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 19:36:27 +0000 Message-ID: <19970615193614.AAA21034@LOCALNAME> X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Priya Bandhu Shri.Babubhai ji: Please accept our heartiest congratulations for your daughter's wedding.May God shower His Blessings bountifully on the new couple so they may live in happiness ever after. Sou.Vaijayanti and Vijay Ruikar At 04:20 PM 6/13/97 +0000, you wrote: >Ajay >My daughter's wedding is on 16 June >Monday at Los Angeles. Please try to attend. I invite >all our families (GC) and Sangh Pariwar. > Babu Gandhi >------------------------------ >Date: 6/13/97 7:10 AM >To: Gandhi, Babu >From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > Dear Ajay > > Congratulations on the work well done.It was a bold step. And > definitely has made an impact. > > With regards > > Ram Prakash > > >______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ >Subject: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News >Author: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org at smtpmed >Date: 6/12/97 5:22 PM > > >A trip to Wal-Mart last night revealed that Aerosmith has replaced the >old offending cover with a redesigned cover. All the CDs I found in our >local store had this new jacket. > >Once again, my profound thanks to all those who contributed to this cause. > >regards, > >ajay > > > >_____________________________ >For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org >Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > > >_____________________________ >For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org >Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > >------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ >Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;13 Jun 1997 06:46:09 -0700 >Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Fri, 13 Jun 97 06:48:48 -0700 >Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id JAA09528; Fri, 13 Jun 1997 09:47:01 -0400 (EDT) >From: ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu >Date: Fri, 13 Jun 97 09:51:44 EST >Message-Id: <9705138662.AA866220528@mednet.med.miami.edu> >To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org >Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga : Good News >X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org >X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org >Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > > >_____________________________ >For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org >Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Mon Jun 16 06:52:14 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 06:51:43 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970616065143_489019783@emout08.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Article 2 of 3... X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 I do not see any article here Mahesh _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Mon Jun 16 13:11:57 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 13:11:22 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970616130853_1654459215@emout07.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: CFA RESULTS : SONY Saga X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 To our Parivar, Aero Smith re traction ! Congratulations to every one for a job well done. May Gods grace shine on us , Hindu and non- Hindu so we may see reason and fairness as leading to happiness for humanity. Mangalam bhavatu. Smt. Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Tue Jun 17 05:59:11 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 05:58:40 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970617055840_-959582643@emout16.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: oops! Article 2 of 3.. X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear Gaurangbhai: How can we send a reply to the writer ? Dear Varshaji: Thank you very much for your write-up. When Britishers left India, Christian missionaries wer packing their bags for good. The Indian Government, particularly Mr. Nehru encouraged them to stay and continue their activities. Later when Mr. Nehru visited Nagaland and received a cold welcome, he was furious. Religious conversions lead to disintegration of the nation. However we Hindus have convinced ourselves of some twisted ideal of universalism. Hindus are very generous when they have to give away their Motherland or their heritage . But very stingy when we have to lose any personal belongings. We have been practising a suicidal policy in the name of universalism. Many more facts, like the one you have presented here, need te be bomarded continuosly to awaken the sleepin soul of the Universalists, the secularists, and the ignorant society. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Wed Jun 18 14:38:10 1997 From: ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Date: Wed, 18 Jun 97 14:43:02 EST Message-Id: <9705188666.AA866670037@mednet.med.miami.edu> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Article 3 of 3... X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Gaurang Ji I have difficulty in correctly decoding these files Ram Agarwal ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Article 3 of 3... Author: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org at smtpmed Date: 6/16/97 2:08 PM --PART.BOUNDARY.0.8693.emout09.mail.aol.com.866391728 Content-ID: <0_8693_866391728@emout09.mail.aol.com.2878> Content-type: text/plain 6/15/1997 Dear Brothers & Sisters: Namaste. here is the last article. Brotherly, Gaurang --PART.BOUNDARY.0.8693.emout09.mail.aol.com.866391728 Content-ID: <0_8693_866391728@emout09.mail.aol.com.2879> Content-type: text/plain; name="VB_FIR~1.HTM" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Rediff On The NeT: Varsha Bhosle on the ways of Shivaji
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Commentary/ Varsha Bhosle

=

First Blood

What with Raja Shiv Chhatrapati's birth anniversar= y falling in May, newspapers in Shiv-Sena-ruled Bombay have been indulging in a bit of subtle local appeasement. For instance, there was this momentous question posed in The Asian Age: 'Was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who united the people of Maha= rashtra and welded them into a Hindu kingdom, a Maratha or a Rajput since he belonged= to the lineage of Sisodiyas?' According to Dr S B Deshmukh, curator of the M= arathwada university, the correct answer is that not only was Raja Shivaji a Marath= a, but every Rajput is a Maharashtrian by origin. Quite plausible. So of course,= Bhosle felt suitably mollified for the three minutes it took to read the = thing, and then promptly became absorbed in the monkeyshines of Laloo Prasad Yad= av.

But then appeared an item which, frankly, I could have done without: The recently-released first volume of Mr G B Mehendale's magnum opus Shri= Raja Shiv Chhatrapati proves with documentary evidence that Adil Shah of Bijap= ur had dispatched Afzal Khan to Pratapgarh with specific orders to kill Shivaji = by means fair or foul. For those who aren't acquainted with this controversi= al episode in the life of the founder of Hindu-pad badshahi, here's= the popular recap: Afzal Khan, after requesting an unarmed meeting and assuring Shiva= ji of his safety, met him in a tent at the base of Pratapgarh, but stabbed him = in the back while embracing him. Thereupon, Shivaji, who had worn armour under h= is clothes and concealed a pair of steel-claws (waagh-nakh, worn li= ke knuckle-busters) in his hands, proceeded to rip open Afzal Khan's abdomen= =2E Khel khatam.

Now, this tale, which is fed to Marathi babies along with their first sol= id food, has been the centre of several disputes and acrimonious exchanges b= etween scholars, most raged in the media. The point of contention has been wheth= er Shivaji went for Afzal Khan, or vice versa =96 the implication being that= if Shivaji did, then he doesn't deserve the unstinting adoration that is his= lot in Maharashtra.

Which is precisely the point that Bhosle has never understood =96 and whi= ch is why Mr Mehendale's QED came as a major disappointment to her. You see, I'= d rather staked my all in Raja Shivaji's having made the first and "unprovo= ked" attack. I question the validity of virtue in wars of independence; Sun Tz= u says: = "All warfare is based on deception. Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means takin= g the offensive. Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength." Why should those who perceive Shivaji as a native ruler seeking Hindvi swarajya<= /EM> get hives over the ethics in who drew first blood? In fact, if Afzal Khan had inde= ed gone in as innocent as a spring lamb, and Shivaji wouldn't have slaughtered hi= m all the same =96 that would have made him one wimp king in my book.

Take Prithviraj Chauhan and Shahabuddin Ghori: Seventeen times did Chauha= n defeat the Afghan, and seventeen times did he let him live. But in 1192, = when Chauhan finally lost, Ghori blinded and killed this last Hindu king of De= lhi =96 and established Muslim rule in India. I'm sorry, but I curse the Rajput's= ethics. Hindus exalt dharma-yuddha, ignoring the fact that the s= ide advised by Krishna didn't always follow morality in warfare: Karna was killed while dislodging his chariot-wheel; Duryodhan was slayed by a mace struck below= his waist; and Dronacharya was attacked after he had laid down his arms. Plai= n old realpolitik: The Pandavs were forced to act in the real world with all it= s limitation, for the ideal world does not exist=85 So why shouldn't have S= hivaji, whom Nehruvians call "the robber-baron", sacked Udaipur and Surat to dive= rt the Islam-bound taxes to his army? But that sticks in the enlightened ones's gullets.

I recall an article in The Illustrated Weekly of India of April = 1993, wherein Nancy Adjania, in classical Marxist thinking and idiom, had dwelt on Rana= Pratap, Chhatrapati Shivaji and Rani Laxmibai; in the case of Laxmibai, t= here were references to Maaza Pravas, a book written in hyper-archaic= Marathi. Where the young linguistic genius is now, I don't know, but her ideas are famil= iarly Duff: "It becomes imperative for a nascent nation to produce a costume dr= ama for itself, in lieu of the past. The nation's origins and antecedents are= explained away by means of a series of tableaux vivants, splendidly mount= ed by adept ideologues within the proscenium of mythology. The first function o= f this nationalist mythology is the creation of exemplars, role models. For this= purpose, cultural heroes and heroines are abstracted from the intricate cross-weave of their original context. Deprived of the political and cult= ural specificities of which they were actually the creatures, they are convert= ed into larger-than-life figures."

I know=85 I, too, had trouble decoding it. In human lingo, all it means i= s: Screw India's nationalistic heroes. The piece ended with a poem by Imtiaz Dhark= ar, wife of Anil Dharkar, who, as editor of the same weekly, had published an= article critical of Chhatrapati Shivaji =96 ie, disputing his integrity i= n the light of Afzal Khan's assassination =96 and got his face blackened by Sai= niks. The British, through the likes of historian Grant Duff, systematically tr= ied to decimate the spirit of our people by denigrating India's inspiring heroes= -- and that hangover persists with our intelligentsia.

Their attitude makes me ponder on Hindus and nationalism. Freedom fighter= s like Lokmanya Tilak, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Veer Savarkar followed the= Vedanta and were no less devout than Mahatma Gandhi. They followed a long= tradition instilled by the likes of Raja Shivaji and Guru Gobind Singh wh= o took up arms to defend Hindu Dharma. Nor were spiritualists like Sri Aurobindo= and Swami Vivekananda oblivious to terrestrial realities: Aurobindo supported= the Allied cause in World War II and the Americans in the Korean war =96 cont= rarily to Gandhian positions. They were the legacy of the likes of Samarth Ramda= s and Sant Tukaram. The latter writes: Bhale tari deu kaasechi langoti / Na= athalaache maathi haanu kaathi / Mau mena-huni amhi Vishnudaas / Kathin vajraasi bhe= du aise (We may give away our loincloth, but we'll split the heads of t= he enemy; we Vishnu-devotees are softer than wax, but we can defy solid steel).

So when exactly did we become a nation of eunuchs? Probably during Partit= ion, when it was decided that Hindu society should follow the way of the b= hikshu, and donate all and everything to the "poor and defenseless". Classical In= dia was an affluent society with a strong army and skills in diplomacy, and s= o some blame Buddhism for the degeneration in Hindu nationalism. Rubbish. Althou= gh Buddhism doesn't have a militant dharma and is monastically orie= nted, how was it adapted to suit the patriotic bents of China and Japan? = Why did it not put an end to the warrior classes in those countries? In fact, both nations flourished through Buddhism, adapting Indian martial arts into kung fu an= d jujitsu and even creating orders of militaristic monks. Bodhidharma, the = founder of Zen Buddhism, was from Kodungalloor in Kerala, and he introduc= ed the Kalari Payat school of combat to the Shao-lin monastery in China.

The ideal of nonviolence set in motion a distortion that has weakened mod= ern India. Rather than defending our religion and culture, we turn on those o= f us who try to rectify the imbalance caused by sham-secular policies. If Hind= us criticise non-Hindus, it's Hindus themselves who protest. But if non-Hind= us censure Hindus, it is Hindus again who advocate serenity and tolerance. I= believe this groveling mentality needs to be shirked =96 there's no digni= ty in getting kicked in the teeth. India needs to reclaim its aggressive spirit= , for that is an integral part of any prosperous nation's culture. We need to h= onour not only our Shivajis and Rana Prataps, but also our Savarkars and Bhagat= Singhs and Manekshaws and Vaidyas. There is no other country in the world= that is so ungrateful to its warriors as India is to hers.

Jawaharlal Nehru and his Congress built modern India not on Gandhian poli= cies, but on Marxist socialism; they built it not on Gandhiji's rural = emphasis, but on apparatchik bureaucracy =96 which became more and more like the Commun= ist model during Mrs G's reign. But all along, the image of Gandhiji= was brazenly used to secure votes =96 even though most of his plans had long been disc= arded. And his exemplar of nonviolence served well to prevent Hindus from coales= cing into a political force, for that oiled the way for politicians to divide = the majority and rule unchecked. It became part of the anti-Hindu strategy=85= Strange. For Gandhijiwas always proud to be a sanaatani= Hindu and had never claimed not to be one.

Oh yes, things look very bleak sometimes. For instance, in a nation-wide = poll conducted by The Sunday Observer last week, it was found that 59= =2E4% of the working class would vote for Sonia Gandhi=85 What now? Or take these noti= ons from your archetypal secularist: What does one say to a man who claims, "we re= ally do not give a damn if India loses Kashmir or any other piece of land that= is not livable"? How does one approach a person who feels that needs like fo= od and shelter are more primary than "coffee table concepts like territorial integrity"? How does one react when a man feels that economic prosperity (paisa, paisa, paisa) is far more crucial than freedom? Don't kn= ow about you, but I react with utter distaste, contempt and horror. If such specimens e= ver become the majority in this country, oh yes, they'll smilingly sell India= down the Indus. Such is the stuff that traitors are made of.

Tell us what y= ou think of this column

Varsha Bhosle
3D"E-mail"

Home = | News<= /FONT> | Busin= ess | Cricket= | = Movies= | Chat
Travel = | Life/Style = | Freedom= | Infot= ech =
Feedback

Copyright 1997 Redif= f On The Net
All rights reserved
 =0D
--PART.BOUNDARY.0.8693.emout09.mail.aol.com.866391728-- _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Tue Jun 24 22:37:43 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 22:22:33 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970624222141_537420947@emout01.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Item to act upon... X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 6/24/1997 Dear Brothers & sisters: Please see the following, and register your protest as soon as possible. Also, pass this on to your friends and otehr community members. Thank you. Brotherly yours, Gaurang G. Vaishnav ============================================================================== ====== CFA: New Yorker shows J&K as not part of India! *----------------------------------------------------------------------* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 10:23:22 -0500 (CDT) From: Rajiv Varma Subject: CFA: New Yorker shows J&K as not part of India! Publication: New Yorker Date: June 23-30 Problem: J&K not shown as part of India Address: (below) Action Req'd: send a protest letter (modify the sample!) - ----------------------------- Sample Letter --------------------------- Letter To The Editor The NEW YORKER 20 West 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 THANK YOU for devoting a double-issue [June 23-30] of the mighty New Yorker to India. It was a treat to go through the articles by so many of the leading living authors writing on this topic. However, I must point out to you one grave error in the map on page 50 which is causing serious agitation among the Indian community. The map on page 50 shows Jammu and Kashmir in a different color [green] than that of India [yellow]. The green color, in which Jammu & Kashmir is shown, is the same green color in which Nepal, an independent country is shown! Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India, and should be shown, therefore, in the same color as India. You owe an apology to India, and to the 1.2 million strong Indian community in America, along with an admission of the error and a correction in the next issue. We expect these from the New Yorker as soon as possible. I suspect your error is more by default than design. After all you are honoring India by devoting the whole issue to India. In any event, there is no excuse for such an error by a magazine of the quality and caliber of New Yorker, is there. Thanks once again for a testimonial to the emerging Indian fiction, and offering a treat which will be read and re-read. sincerely, Amir Tuteja _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From p479@hopi.dtcc.edu Fri Jun 27 22:53:32 1997 Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 22:53:24 -0400 (EDT) From: HARISH C PANDYA To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Item to act upon... In-Reply-To: <970624222141_537420947@emout01.mail.aol.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Gaurang Ji, Jai Shri Ram But what is the address on which we can send our protest. Harish Panday On Tue, 24 Jun 1997 VICHARAK@aol.com wrote: > 6/24/1997 > > Dear Brothers & sisters: > > Please see the following, and register your protest as soon as possible. > Also, pass this on to your friends and otehr community members. > > Thank you. > > Brotherly yours, > > Gaurang G. Vaishnav > > ============================================================================== > ====== > > CFA: New Yorker shows J&K as not part of India! > *----------------------------------------------------------------------* > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 10:23:22 -0500 (CDT) > From: Rajiv Varma > Subject: CFA: New Yorker shows J&K as not part of India! > > > Publication: New Yorker > Date: June 23-30 > > Problem: J&K not shown as part of India > Address: (below) > Action Req'd: send a protest letter (modify the sample!) > > > - ----------------------------- Sample Letter --------------------------- > > Letter To The Editor > The NEW YORKER > 20 West 43rd Street > New York, NY 10036 > > THANK YOU for devoting a double-issue [June 23-30] of the mighty > New Yorker to India. It was a treat to go through the articles by so > many of the leading living authors writing on this topic. > > However, I must point out to you one grave error in the map on page 50 > which is causing serious agitation among the Indian community. > > The map on page 50 shows Jammu and Kashmir in a different color > [green] than that of India [yellow]. The green color, in which Jammu > & Kashmir is shown, is the same green color in which Nepal, an > independent country is shown! Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part > of India, and should be shown, therefore, in the same color as India. > > You owe an apology to India, and to the 1.2 million strong Indian > community in America, along with an admission of the error and a > correction in the next issue. We expect these from the New Yorker > as soon as possible. > > I suspect your error is more by default than design. After all you are > honoring India by devoting the whole issue to India. In any event, > there is no excuse for such an error by a magazine of the quality and > caliber of New Yorker, is there. > > Thanks once again for a testimonial to the emerging Indian fiction, and > offering a treat which will be read and re-read. > > sincerely, > Amir Tuteja > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Mon Jun 30 20:50:30 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 20:49:56 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970630204954_880270492@emout16.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Fwd: Hanuman Flag X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Dear colleagues: Please reply to me if you have information on the attached questions. Thank you. Brotherly, Gaurang 6/30/1997 --------------------- Forwarded message: From: P.Datt@cstd.usyd.edu.au (Prayag Datt) To: vicharak@aol.com Date: 97-06-30 00:08:39 EDT Jai Sita Ram Could you please provide me with some information on why the Flag of Hanuman is 3 conered (triangle shape), which is used on puja of Hanuman. Also if you could provide me the names of Valmiki's (author of Ramayana) parents (father and mother). Your early reply would be most appreciated. Thank you Jai Sita Ram Prayag _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Mon Jun 30 20:55:15 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 20:54:43 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970630205442_1141189280@emout14.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org, YLakra@aol.com, VICHARAK@aol.com, abhaya@lucent.com (abhayaasthana), nandsharma@lucent.com (nandkishoresharma), 75132.2437@compuserve.com (rameshpatel), cbanerj@denali.ccs.neu.edu (kanchanbanerjee), 103021.752@compuserve.com (virendraparikh), MJMEHTA@aol.com cc: ajay@hindunet.org Subject: Fwd: statement on modern ethical issues X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 6/30/97 Bandhuvar: Namaste. Can someone enlighten me on the request for "statements on ethical issues"? Brotherly, Gaurang --------------------- Forwarded message: From: bedfords@whitby5.demon.co.uk (Bedfords) To: vicharak@aol.com Date: 97-06-27 17:54:30 EDT Who would think to find Ganesh on the Web!! A very exciting and informative visit. Do you have statements about ethical modern issues? _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From MJMEHTA@aol.com Tue Jul 1 05:49:58 1997 From: MJMEHTA@aol.com Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 05:49:28 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970701054926_-858274149@emout07.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Hanuman Flag X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Valmiki's father's name: Sage Prachethasa. Valmiki's original name was Rathnakara. He was lost, brought up by ahunter family.He became arobber to support the family. Mahesh Mehta _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From rvarma@ccaix.jsums.edu Tue Jul 1 10:24:51 1997 Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 09:21:23 -0500 (CDT) From: "R. Varma" To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Fwd: statement on modern ethical issues In-Reply-To: <970630205442_1141189280@emout14.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On Mon, 30 Jun 1997 VICHARAK@aol.com wrote: > 6/30/97 > > Bandhuvar: > > Namaste. Can someone enlighten me on the request for "statements on ethical > issues"? > I could be wrong here, but I think the person is looking for Hindu perspective on the (so-called) "modern" ethical issues, for example, genetic cloning, ... i.e. cloning humans. Almost all semitic religions and sects have expressed reservations or opposed vehemently the idea of human cloning. As to, what might be a "Hindu" position on human cloning? From a philosophical standpoint, esp. Advaita Vedantic, the Universe is Manifest Reality, not God's "creation" -- and it is part of Ultimate Reality which consists of Universal Consciousness (or a "Unified Force" as the Quantum physicists would put it.). Hence, even if physical human body (the heart, lungs, legs, eyes, etc., etc.) can be cloned, it is given that human consciousness cannot be cloned. Hence, no "true" human -duplicates- can be produced, as per Advaita Vedanta. ----------- In simpler terms, human (H) = physical body (P) + individual consciousness (C) technology can clone P, but cannot clone C, hence no true clone of H can be produced. ------------ Therefore, from a Hindu point-of-view, human cloning may not be such an evil, as other religions are making it out to be. I think the aagantuk is looking for such positions from a Hindu point-of-view, when he mentions "statements on modern ethical issues." regards, Rajiv > > Brotherly, > > Gaurang > > --------------------- > Forwarded message: > From: bedfords@whitby5.demon.co.uk (Bedfords) > To: vicharak@aol.com > Date: 97-06-27 17:54:30 EDT > > > Who would think to find Ganesh on the Web!! > > A very exciting and informative visit. > > Do you have statements about ethical modern issues? > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Sun Jul 6 19:10:24 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 19:09:49 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970706190948_-2113376007@emout06.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Alert- Hindu ttemples in Russia X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 7/6/1997 Dear Colleagues: Namaste. Please see below important information received from internet. Subject is complex as we do not know total picture, however, I feel that all of us support the cause by sending protest letters. I have just returned from a wondeerful experience of HSC camp at Green Pasture, NH, followed by a interorganizational meeting of Sangh organizations in New York. Mananiya Dattopant Thengadi graced both the functions and gave very thought provoking talks about Organization, Goals and methods of working. Brotherly, Gaurang ============================================================================== ======== Friday, July 4 1997 Today's Topics: ------------- EXTEREMELY URGENT ACTION ALERT... *----------------------------------------------------------------------* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 03 Jul 1997 12:33:39 -0500 (EST) From: DPC@neu.edu Subject: EXTEREMELY URGENT ACTION ALERT... Date: Thu, 03 Jul 1997 11:10:46 -0400 From: premananda@juno.com Subject: RUSSIAN HINDU TEMPLES UNDER ATTACK Hare Krishna, Durga Prasad! I have attached an urgent message regarding legislation passed by the Russian Parliament that would liquidate all Hindu temples in Russia. Our only hope is to convince Boris Yeltsin to veto the bill. There is a good chance that this can be done. Many other religious organizations - some of them quite well established in the US and Europe - would be liquidated if this becomes law. President Clinton is said to have personally raised the issue with President Yeltsin at a recent meeting. If Yeltsin does veto the bill, he'll need to point to worldwide opposition in order to muster up sufficent support in Parliament to prevent an override vote. Letters from members of the Indian community in the US and abroad will be tremendously influential! We've had to do this before and our Indian friends made a crucial difference! Please send the attached message to any and all Indian and Hindu groups you know of. Indian groups that have political inclinations should especially be notified. I would appreciate being informed regarding to whom you post this message. If is imperative that we act quickly. Thank you for your help! Premananda dasa ================================================================== Dear Friends, On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Indian independence, the rights of Indians and non-Indians alike to worship in Russia's Hindu temples is under attack. The Russian Parliament has passed a bill that would severely restrict freedom of religion and religious organizations, including all Hindu groups. The bill, promoted in large part by the Russian Orthodox Church, has received practically unanimous support in Parliament. Russian President Boris Yeltsin is the only person who can prevent Russia from back-sliding to the days of religious intolerance under the Soviet-Communist regime. The bill would give broad powers to the government to liquidate the holdings of minority religious groups and prevent them from publicly practicing and sharing their faith with others. Under the terms of the bill, *A religious organization could hold property only if local government officials acknowledge that the organization has been in operation for the past 15 years. Since religious freedom has come to Russia only in the past ten years, no Hindu organization would qualify. *To be recognized as a national religious organization, a group would have to prove nationwide operations for the past 50 years. Indian religious groups, including the largest and oldest of them - the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) - would have to wait at least 40 years before receiving federal recognition. Without federal recognition, no religious group could do such simple things as print or distribute religious literature, or publicly share their beliefs with people outside their own faith. There are more than 100 Hindu temples in Russia. Each one is locally incorporated, staffed, managed and financed and conforms with all local and Russian national laws. They also provide life-saving services to the larger community. For example, the Hare Krishna devotees serve more than 10,000 hot free meals a day to needy Russian citizens through 50 Hare Krishna Food for Life projects. Under the bill, these much-needed social services would be barred. If the bill is passed, Orthodox clerics in other countries of the former-Soviet Union will likely introduce similar legislation. Hundreds more temples may be lost. It is imperative that we act NOW to protect freedom of religion in the former Soviet Union. Please FAX your opposition to the bill to one of the following numbers TODAY. Please copy your federal Congressional representatives and ask them to communicate their opposition as well. Attached is a draft of a letter which could be sent to President Yeltsin. Please feel free to modify it to suit your own expression and experience. TIME IS VERY SHORT. THE BILL MAY GO TO PRESIDENT YELTSIN'S DESK BY JULY 7. PLEASE FAX YOUR LETTER IMMEDIATELY TO EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING: Mr. Ruslan Gennadyvich Orekhov Legal Directorate of the Office of the President FAX 007 095 206 3178 OR His Excellency Ambassador Vorontsov 2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. FAX 1-202-298-5735 =====================SAMPLE LETTER BELOW====================== His Excellency President Boris Yeltsin The Kremlin Moscow, Russia Dear President Yeltsin: We understand that the Russian State Duma has recently passed legislation of religion that, if enacted, would ban or considerably limit the activities of those religious organizations that are comparatively fewer in number of their adherents or younger than the ones traditionally existing in Russia. For instance, the proposed law does not allow a religious organization to get an all-Russia status unless it was registered in Russia at least 50 years ago, or forbids registration of a local religious organization until 15 years after the time of its founding in a particular region of your country. Respecting the solemn right of the Russian parliament to adopt any laws thought to be conductive for the Russian society, we nevertheless cannot help but express our deepest concern over the later legislative initiative. As native Hindus living in the United States, we are very happy that despite our being so far away from our dear homeland India, by the grace of God we have the opportunity to practice our religion, Hinduism, through the devotees of the Hare Krishna religion, or the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. We come regularly to the Hare Krishna temples for our prayers, our mass (arati) and other religious functions. The Hare Krishna devotees are the priests who perform our marriages and other rituals exactly in the way they have been performed since time immemorial in Bharat-varsha, India. We know that the native Hindus living in Russia enjoy the same privileges by visiting over 100 Hare Krishna temples throughout Russia. In this way it is very easy for an Indian student or businessman in Russia to remain in close touch with our ancient 5000-year-old religious and cultural tradition in whatever Russian city we may decide to live and work. But now we have a grave apprehension that the new proposed law, if approved by Your Excellence, would greatly hinder the freedom of religious life in Russia and, in particular, would deprive Hindus living in Russia the possibility of publicly practicing our religion in Russia the way 800 million of Indians can in India and most of the democratic countries world-wide. We are very happy with the rapid development of economic and cultural exchange between India and Russia, but such a restrictive and, in fact, discriminative law would inevitably spoil the favourable conditions for the further growth of our relations. We appeal to Your Excellency not to enforce the law, which would obviously be a violation of basic human rights and democracy. The Hare Krishna movement belongs to the ancient Vaishnava faith within Hinduism, the world's oldest religion, and the fact it was not in Russia 50 years ago does not mean that it is not a bona fide religion. Now there are many denominations of Christianity present in India, including the Orthodox Church, and they can freely practice and preach their beliefs without being restricted, outlawed or ostracized from India as newcomers having no historical roots in Indian cultural soil. So we hope we can rightly expect the same attitude towards our Hindu religious organization, the Hare Krishna movement, in Russia. You became famous throughout the world as a freedom fighter, and indeed, your record as President points toward continued liberalization for the Russian people. Russia has made tremendous gains in freedom of expression and conscience under your administration. We are most appreciative of your courage to promote individual liberty in light of so many conservative forces at work within your country. This legislation would be a most unfortunate regression toward the intolerance of the past. We had hoped that we had seen the last of those days in the 1980s when Russian Hindu priests were arrested, jailed, tortured and killed in Soviet detention camps because they followed the calling of their conscience to serve God and help others. We once again beg Your Excellency to veto the law and to not allow religious bigotry to start flourishing in Russia anew. Thank you very much for your kind consideration. Sincerely yours, ------------------------------ End _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Babu.Gandhi@trw.com Mon Jul 7 16:58:51 1997 Message-ID: Date: 7 Jul 1997 10:34:59 -0700 From: "Babu Gandhi" Subject: Re: Alert- Hindu ttemples in To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; Name="Message Body" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Message Body" X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Gaurangbhai Myself and my son Chetan were at the HSS camp for a week. We had to come = back on July4 for a relative's wedding and missed the opportunity to meet you. Will do needfull for the message you sent. Babubhai Gandhi ------------------------------ Date: 7/7/97 7:25 AM To: Gandhi, Babu From: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org 7/6/1997 Dear Colleagues: Namaste. Please see below important information received from internet. Subject is complex as we do not know total picture, however, I feel that = all of us support the cause by sending protest letters. I have just returned from a wondeerful experience of HSC camp at Green Pasture, NH, followed by a interorganizational meeting of Sangh = organizations in New York. Mananiya Dattopant Thengadi graced both the functions and = gave very thought provoking talks about Organization, Goals and methods of working. Brotherly, Gaurang =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Friday, July 4 1997 Today's Topics: ------------- EXTEREMELY URGENT ACTION ALERT... *----------------------------------------------------------------------* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 03 Jul 1997 12:33:39 -0500 (EST) From: DPC@neu.edu Subject: EXTEREMELY URGENT ACTION ALERT... Date: Thu, 03 Jul 1997 11:10:46 -0400 From: premananda@juno.com Subject: RUSSIAN HINDU TEMPLES UNDER ATTACK Hare Krishna, Durga Prasad! I have attached an urgent message regarding legislation passed by the Russian Parliament that would liquidate all Hindu temples in Russia. Our only hope is to convince Boris Yeltsin to veto the bill. There is a good chance that this can be done. Many other religious organizations - some of them quite well established in the US and Europe - would be liquidated if this becomes law. President Clinton is said to have personally raised the issue with President Yeltsin at a recent meeting. If Yeltsin does veto the bill, he'll need to point to worldwide opposition in order to muster up sufficent support in Parliament to prevent an override vote. Letters from members of the Indian community in the US and abroad will be tremendously influential! We've had to do this before and our Indian friends made a crucial difference! Please send the attached message to any and all Indian and Hindu groups you know of. Indian groups that have political inclinations should especially be notified. I would appreciate being informed regarding to whom you post this message. If is imperative that we act quickly. Thank you for your help! Premananda dasa =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Dear Friends, On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Indian independence, the rights of Indians and non-Indians alike to worship in Russia's Hindu temples is under attack. The Russian Parliament has passed a bill that would severely restrict freedom of religion and religious organizations, including all Hindu groups. The bill, promoted in large part by the Russian Orthodox Church, has received practically unanimous support in Parliament. Russian President Boris Yeltsin is the only person who can prevent Russia from back-sliding to the days of religious intolerance under the Soviet-Communist regime. The bill would give broad powers to the government to liquidate the holdings of minority religious groups and prevent them from publicly practicing and sharing their faith with others. Under the terms of the bill, *A religious organization could hold property only if local government officials acknowledge that the organization has been in operation for the past 15 years. Since religious freedom has come to Russia only in the past ten years, no Hindu organization would qualify. *To be recognized as a national religious organization, a group would have to prove nationwide operations for the past 50 years. Indian religious groups, including the largest and oldest of them - the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) - would have to wait at least 40 years before receiving federal recognition. Without federal recognition, no religious group could do such simple things as print or distribute religious literature, or publicly share their beliefs with people outside their own faith. There are more than 100 Hindu temples in Russia. Each one is locally incorporated, staffed, managed and financed and conforms with all local and Russian national laws. They also provide life-saving services to the larger community. For example, the Hare Krishna devotees serve more than 10,000 hot free meals a day to needy Russian citizens through 50 Hare Krishna Food for Life projects. Under the bill, these much-needed social services would be barred. If the bill is passed, Orthodox clerics in other countries of the former-Soviet Union will likely introduce similar legislation. Hundreds more temples may be lost. It is imperative that we act NOW to protect freedom of religion in the former Soviet Union. Please FAX your opposition to the bill to one of the following numbers TODAY. Please copy your federal Congressional representatives and ask them to communicate their opposition as well. Attached is a draft of a letter which could be sent to President Yeltsin. Please feel free to modify it to suit your own expression and experience. TIME IS VERY SHORT. THE BILL MAY GO TO PRESIDENT YELTSIN'S DESK BY JULY 7. PLEASE FAX YOUR LETTER IMMEDIATELY TO EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING: Mr. Ruslan Gennadyvich Orekhov Legal Directorate of the Office of the President FAX 007 095 206 3178 OR His Excellency Ambassador Vorontsov 2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. FAX 1-202-298-5735 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3DSAMPLE = LETTER = BELOW=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D His Excellency President Boris Yeltsin The Kremlin Moscow, Russia Dear President Yeltsin: We understand that the Russian State Duma has recently passed legislation of religion that, if enacted, would ban or considerably limit the activities of those religious organizations that are comparatively fewer in number of their adherents or younger than the ones traditionally existing in Russia. For instance, the proposed law does not allow a religious organization to get an all-Russia status unless it was registered in Russia at least 50 years ago, or forbids registration of a local religious organization until 15 years after the time of its founding in a particular region of your country. Respecting the solemn right of the Russian parliament to adopt any laws thought to be conductive for the Russian society, we nevertheless cannot help but express our deepest concern over the later legislative initiative. As native Hindus living in the United States, we are very happy that despite our being so far away from our dear homeland India, by the grace of God we have the opportunity to practice our religion, Hinduism, through the devotees of the Hare Krishna religion, or the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. We come regularly to the Hare Krishna temples for our prayers, our mass (arati) and other religious functions. The Hare Krishna devotees are the priests who perform our marriages and other rituals exactly in the way they have been performed since time immemorial in Bharat-varsha, India. We know that the native Hindus living in Russia enjoy the same privileges by visiting over 100 Hare Krishna temples throughout Russia. In this way it is very easy for an Indian student or businessman in Russia to remain in close touch with our ancient 5000-year-old religious and cultural tradition in whatever Russian city we may decide to live and work. But now we have a grave apprehension that the new proposed law, if approved by Your Excellence, would greatly hinder the freedom of religious life in Russia and, in particular, would deprive Hindus living in Russia the possibility of publicly practicing our religion in Russia the way 800 million of Indians can in India and most of the democratic countries world-wide. We are very happy with the rapid development of economic and cultural exchange between India and Russia, but such a restrictive and, in fact, discriminative law would inevitably spoil the favourable conditions for the further growth of our relations. We appeal to Your Excellency not to enforce the law, which would obviously be a violation of basic human rights and democracy. The Hare Krishna movement belongs to the ancient Vaishnava faith within Hinduism, the world's oldest religion, and the fact it was not in Russia 50 years ago does not mean that it is not a bona fide religion. Now there are many denominations of Christianity present in India, including the Orthodox Church, and they can freely practice and preach their beliefs without being restricted, outlawed or ostracized from India as newcomers having no historical roots in Indian cultural soil. So we hope we can rightly expect the same attitude towards our Hindu religious organization, the Hare Krishna movement, in Russia. You became famous throughout the world as a freedom fighter, and indeed, your record as President points toward continued liberalization for the Russian people. Russia has made tremendous gains in freedom of expression and conscience under your administration. We are most appreciative of your courage to promote individual liberty in light of so many conservative forces at work within your country. This legislation would be a most unfortunate regression toward the intolerance of the past. We had hoped that we had seen the last of those days in the 1980s when Russian Hindu priests were arrested, jailed, tortured and killed in Soviet detention camps because they followed the calling of their conscience to serve God and help others. We once again beg Your Excellency to veto the law and to not allow religious bigotry to start flourishing in Russia anew. Thank you very much for your kind consideration. Sincerely yours, ------------------------------ End _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: = owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by qmgate.trw.com with ADMIN;7 Jul 1997 07:20:22 -0700 Received: from www10.clever.net by mailhub1.trw.com; Sun, 6 Jul 97 = 16:13:39 -0700 Received: (from ghen@localhost) by www10.clever.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) id = TAA12456; Sun, 6 Jul 1997 19:10:26 -0400 (EDT) From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 19:09:49 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970706190948_-2113376007@emout06.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Alert- Hindu ttemples in Russia X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From cbanerj@ccs.neu.edu Wed Jul 16 14:04:22 1997 From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Message-Id: <199707161804.OAA14087@denali.ccs.neu.edu> Subject: Are you organizing the prayer meet? To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 14:04:17 -0400 (EDT) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23beta2] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org GLOBAL FREEDOM PRAYER MEET (GFPM): ARE YOU ORGANIZING THE GFPM IN YOUR CITY/TOWN? > > This is the best way to salute Bharat Mata to commemorate the 50th > anniversary of independence. Please take few minutes to read > this message and act today to organize this event in your town/city. > > GFPM is being held all over the world at the same time: the time is Midnight > August 15 (Indian Standard Time). It is Thursday, 14th August in the US & > Canada and 2:30 PM in the East Coast and 11:30 AM in the West coast. Yes, > it is a weekday and many people are taking time off from their work for a > great cause. > > This short program (about half hour) involves raising Indian flag, singing > Vandemataram, offering peace prayers, paying tribute to freedom fighters, > paying homage to the millions who died for lack of freedom (including those who > died during partition), sing Janaganamana and the native national anthem. > > The program does not require lot of effort and resources. You need to do the > following: > > 1)Contact the city-hall/town hall to reserve the area near the flag poles > for the particular time (say 2 PM - 3:30 PM EST). Also, a room/hall should > be reserved (in case of rain) as a precaution. In many cases you may find > that the flag poles are already taken by others or some other organization has > booked the area already. In that case either do it in a room or in a seperate > location. > > 2)Invite the Mayor to officiate the event. Request him to proclaim the day > as India Day in the city. > > 3)Once things are in place, publicize through your network, radio tv etc. > for people to come. > > Remember, it is just matter of contacting the right persons, cities/towns > are eager to do such programs. We don't have to gather a large crowd either! > > A sample letter to the mayor, exact format of the program and other information > is available upon request. > > > DONT WAIT FOR ANOTHER DAY: PLEASE CALL UP YOUR CITY/TOWN HALL TODAY! > > For further assistance please visit our web page: > http://www.freeindia.org/ff97/global_prayer.html > > Phone: (617) 742-7193 or (718) 979-6144 > > EMAIL: ff97@freeindia.org > > > Freedom Festival 1997 is a series of programs and activities to be held > throughout North America to commemorate the momentous 50th Anniversary of > Indian Independence. FF97 is organized by Hindu Students Council together > with many Indo-American and Indo-Canadian organizations. _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From Vartalapa@aol.com Thu Jul 17 12:23:54 1997 From: Vartalapa@aol.com Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 12:23:22 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970717122320_-2044094479@emout17.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Are you organizing the prayer meet? X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Banerji, Yes we are organising a meeting! However I never heard back from you or Jwalant as you had mentioned. I give up!!! Renu S Malhotra _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From meghani@umich.edu Thu Jul 17 18:04:25 1997 Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 18:04:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Mihir Meghani X-Sender: meghani@galaxian.rs.itd.umich.edu To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: i am back In-Reply-To: <970717122320_-2044094479@emout17.mail.aol.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaste to all, I returned from Bharat 6 weeks ag, graduated from medical school, and am now doing a residency at Detroit Receiving Hospital in Emergency Medicine). This is a 3 yr program. I am slowly getting back in the flow of things. I hope to talkk to many of you soon, however, residency is a very time sonsuming thing. My new addr is PO Box 250304, W. Bloomfield, MI 48325-0304 If you send something not using US MAil, send to 6558 Stonebridge E, W. Bloomfield, MI 48322 ph: 248-788-9492, fax 248-442-7204 Regards, Mihir _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Fri Jul 18 09:51:59 1997 From: ragarwal@mednet.med.miami.edu Date: Fri, 18 Jul 97 09:57:49 EST Message-Id: <9706188692.AA869244821@mednet.med.miami.edu> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: i am back X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 Congratulations Mihir on your graduation in medicine and good luck in residency period. Ram Prakash Agarwal ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: i am back Author: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org at smtpmed Date: 7/17/97 6:16 PM Namaste to all, I returned from Bharat 6 weeks ag, graduated from medical school, and am now doing a residency at Detroit Receiving Hospital in Emergency Medicine). This is a 3 yr program. I am slowly getting back in the flow of things. I hope to talkk to many of you soon, however, residency is a very time sonsuming thing. My new addr is PO Box 250304, W. Bloomfield, MI 48325-0304 If you send something not using US MAil, send to 6558 Stonebridge E, W. Bloomfield, MI 48322 ph: 248-788-9492, fax 248-442-7204 Regards, Mihir _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Fri Jul 18 20:36:47 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 20:36:14 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970718203612_60991767@emout10.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Fwd: Anti Sangh tirade- action item X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 7/18/1997 Dear GC members and chapter presidents: Namskaar. Please read the attached and try your best. also, pass it on to other sympathizers. Brotherly, Gaurang --------------------- Forwarded message: From: owner-hrinfo-digest@stallion.jsums.edu (hrinfo-digest) Sender: owner-hrinfo-digest@stallion.jsums.edu Reply-to: hrinfo@hindunet.org To: hrinfo-digest@stallion.jsums.edu Date: 97-07-17 13:34:56 EDT hrinfo-digest Thursday, July 17 1997 Volume 01 : Number 554 +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Information Exchange Network | | (Calls for Action, Announcements, Need Help, Need Info, Field Work | | related, and other Important Unidirectional Messages ONLY) | | HR World Wide Web Site: http://hindunet.org/hr | | All HR Administrative related inquiries to: hrss@hindunet.org | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Today's Topics: ------------- CFA : Protest the Commie Protest about website Urgent: Info needed for tomorrow's protest Are you organizing the prayer meet? *----------------------------------------------------------------------* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 08:07:21 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah Subject: CFA : Protest the Commie Protest about website +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Information Exchange Network | | (Calls for Action, Announcements, Need Help, Need Info, Field Work | | related, and other Important Unidirectional Messages ONLY) | | HR World Wide Web Site: http://hindunet.org/hr | | All HR Administrative related inquiries to: hrss@hindunet.org | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Protest against "protest against RSS dominated web site" Here is an interesting one. Commies are protesting New Yorker magazine designating one of the India related site as the best site, because it has not primary, not secondary, not tertiary but quarternary link to Sangh, VOI etc. sites (and commies call this site RSS dominated for having this quarternary link!!) The poor Indian grad student who put up the web site would have had no idea what is to hit him His India page has a link to Kashmir page (Kashyap), which commies protest. Then they are protesting the fact that Kashyam has links to hindutva.org, which has a link to RSS. Most likely the person who has floated the protest is clueless about internet (after all, at tis level, just about everyone in the world is connected), but that aside, we may want to at least help the Indian student out, and make sure that New Yorker does not get one sided propaganda Here is a clipping from Alt.India.Progressive - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 00:43:57 -0700 Subject: (fwd) RSS-dominated website From: Pratyush Bharati Newsgroups: alt.india.progressive Subject: RSS-dominated website Date: 15 Jul 1997 13:26:22 GMT Organization: None Lines: 125 Sender: Niraj "the Mirage" Pant Approved: Niraj Pant Message-ID: <5qftpu$9l8@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: unixs3.cis.pitt.edu Originator: kamat@unixs3.cis.pitt.edu Friends, Please read the following letter we are planning to send to New Yorker in response to an RSS-dominated website they recommended as "The Best" India website. Please look up the magazine and send your consent (to be included in the letter as a signee) to: "Cynthia A. Leenerts" Thanks. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Editor New Yorker July 13, 1997 Dear Editor: Subject: India website recommended in the "Only Connect" column, New Yorker, June 23/30, 1997 We the undersigned are drawing your attention to the "Only Connect" column (New Yorker, June 23/30, 1997) where the author advises the erudite readership of New Yorker to reach "The Best" of India at the following website: http://http.tamu.edu/~r0k5147/html/India.html. Even though the above website could easily be ranked as one with the most extensive information on India, it is the nature of the information we are deeply concerned about. As we followed the author's advise and began browsing through the various links, we were shocked to find out the politically biased and racially motivated details on India. The website through many of its links, gives us a one-sided view -- a view that has been championed by the Hindu religious right of India, particularly the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Shiv Sena (SS). In spite of its periodic social, economic, and political turmoils -- sometimes overblown by a section of the Western Press so hungry for "sensational" news "commodities", India has been the land of many languages, lifestyles, and religions, and preached and practiced harmony and tolerance. Over the many thousand years of its history, the great country and its people have shown the world how an enormous land mass of extreme diversity can exercise peace and togetherness. Our strong belief is that most Indians want to keep the nation that way. It is only the extreme conservative right-wing elements such as the RSS and SS (along with some Islamic fanatics) that are busy precipitating communal discord through what they theorize and practice. During the nineties, thousands of poor and innocent Indians -- both Muslims and Hindus, have fallen prey to their doctrine of hatred and lost their lives and properties. Some of the Hindu supremacist leaders have openly declared war on the Muslims and asked their followers to rape Muslim women. Some of them have praised in public Hitler and Nazi Germany as their role models. It is a civil war-like situation the Indians are living in now and raising their children in a climate of fear. The website in question is a prime example of the Hindu right's biased high-tech propaganda on the Internet. Considering the impact of the Internet on the young generation, it is extremely important to understand the extent of their distorted views. We can cite only a few examples here. We request the readership of New Yorker to carefully check into the site. Under the heading "States", one is directed to the "Hindutva" link. Hindutva or Hinduness is a concept that is now espoused by the above groups. The "Hindutva" link directs us to the official websites of RSS and its daughter organizations such as the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP (their website is named Kamal Darshan). It also gives us some "information" on other religions practised in India -- such as Islam and Christianity. The link on Christianity is named "Christianity and India -- How Evangelists are Vying to Spread Gospel in India". RSS considers Christian missionaries to be one of their biggest enemies. The "Hindutva" site also links us to "Hindu Publications" -- all the publications mentioned therein are authored by RSS ideologues and known sympathizers -- Sita Ram Goel (who terms Jesus Christ a "junk"), Arun Shourie, Koenraad Elst. No liberal and well-known Hindu philosophers such as Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, or Krishnamurthy have been included. And we are not even mentioning philosophers such as Sri Chaitanya, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, or Ram Mohan Ray. Similarly, the link "Hindu Book Review" only cites works by RSS leaders and theorists -- the website creators or managers did not care to include any of the world-renowned pluralist authors and teachers India has given birth to over the thousands of years of its history. Under the "States" link, one can find a very hateful anti-Pakistan propaganda on the issue of Kashmir. Notwithstanding the fact that the separatist movement in Kashmir has been actively supported by Pakistani intelligence and the United Nations have ignored the plight of the state, it is the extent of hate-mongering against Pakistan that one can perceive at this link. Of course, BJP's foreign policy rests on the plank of anti-Pakistan propaganda and pro-N-war rhetoric. One can only imagine the future relationship between these two countries if and once the BJP comes to national power in the next Indian elections. We are deeply worried that the extensive readership of New Yorker would not know the true colors behind this grandiose website, and fall prey to their distortion of facts and indoctrination of hate. Most Western readers and tourists who are not politically informed think of India to be an exotic land famous for its mountain resorts and spicy curries. The fact is, India, as wonderful it is, is so because of its people and their practice of benevolence and tolerance -- a virtue that is not easily found in these days of rightist divisiveness. A magazine of high esteem such as the New Yorker must warn its readers against such divisiveness and lies. Thank you. Sincerely, Names (and addresses?) of writers ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 17:54:33 -0400 (EDT) From: "Dilip N. Deodhar" Subject: Urgent: Info needed for tomorrow's protest +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Information Exchange Network | | (Calls for Action, Announcements, Need Help, Need Info, Field Work | | related, and other Important Unidirectional Messages ONLY) | | HR World Wide Web Site: http://hindunet.org/hr | | All HR Administrative related inquiries to: hrss@hindunet.org | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Namaskaar, A full page advertisement/announcement appeared in India Abroad dated 18th July 97. Relevant lines are reproduced at the end. Tomorrow, we are planning a demonstration at this gallery. I urgently need some material for this. Please send e-mail ASAP (today) to dnd3@columbia.edu. 1) Some catchy slogans to put on the play-cards. (Husain Murdabad?) 2) Some material giving details - will be printed on 1/2 pages and distributed as pamphlets. Thank you so much. Dilip Deodhar - -.-.-.-.-.-. Part 1 of ad. -.-.-.-.-.-. CitiBank NRI Investments presents a special exhibition of Recent Works in Acrylic & Watercolor By M. F. Husain At Wallace Galleries 521 West, 23 rd street 2nd flr. New York, NY 10011 Tel: (212) 206-8350 On 17th & 18th of July, 1997 Between 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. - -.-.-.-.-.-. Part 2 of ad. -.-.-.-.-.-. When you begin a new relationship of US $ 50,000 or more, we'd like to present you a limited edition print (serigraph) of an M. F. Husain painting, specially painted by him on the occasion of 50 years of Indian Independence. The serigraph will be personally signed by him. - -.-.-.-.-.-. end -.-.-.-.-.-. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 14:05:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Chandan Bandopadhyay Subject: Are you organizing the prayer meet? +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Information Exchange Network | | (Calls for Action, Announcements, Need Help, Need Info, Field Work | | related, and other Important Unidirectional Messages ONLY) | | HR World Wide Web Site: http://hindunet.org/hr | | All HR Administrative related inquiries to: hrss@hindunet.org | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ > GLOBAL FREEDOM PRAYER MEET (GFPM): > > ARE YOU ORGANIZING THE GFPM IN YOUR CITY/TOWN? > > This is the best way to salute Bharat Mata to commemorate the 50th > anniversary of independence. Please take few minutes to read > this message and act today to organize this event in your town/city. > > GFPM is being held all over the world at the same time: the time is Midnight > August 15 (Indian Standard Time). It is Thursday, 14th August in the US & > Canada and 2:30 PM in the East Coast and 11:30 AM in the West coast. Yes, > it is a weekday and many people are taking time off from their work for a > great cause. > > This short program (about half hour) involves raising Indian flag, singing > Vandemataram, offering peace prayers, paying tribute to freedom fighters, > paying homage to the millions who died for lack of freedom (including those who > died during partition), sing Janaganamana and the native national anthem. > > The program does not require lot of effort and resources. You need to do the > following: > > 1)Contact the city-hall/town hall to reserve the area near the flag poles > for the particular time (say 2 PM - 3:30 PM EST). Also, a room/hall should > be reserved (in case of rain) as a precaution. In many cases you may find > that the flag poles are already taken by others or some other organization has > booked the area already. In that case either do it in a room or in a seperate > location. > > 2)Invite the Mayor to officiate the event. Request him to proclaim the day > as India Day in the city. > > 3)Once things are in place, publicize through your network, radio tv etc. > for people to come. > > Remember, it is just matter of contacting the right persons, cities/towns > are eager to do such programs. We don't have to gather a large crowd either! > > A sample letter to the mayor, exact format of the program and other information > is available upon request. > > > DONT WAIT FOR ANOTHER DAY: PLEASE CALL UP YOUR CITY/TOWN HALL TODAY! > > For further assistance please visit our web page: > http://www.freeindia.org/ff97/global_prayer.html > > Phone: (617) 742-7193 or (718) 979-6144 > > EMAIL: ff97@freeindia.org > > > Freedom Festival 1997 is a series of programs and activities to be held > throughout North America to commemorate the momentous 50th Anniversary of > Indian Independence. FF97 is organized by Hindu Students Council together > with many Indo-American and Indo-Canadian organizations. ------------------------------ End of hrinfo-digest V1 #554 **************************** _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Fri Jul 18 20:40:28 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 20:39:55 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970718203737_161674904@emout05.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Fwd: RUSSIAN VEGETARIAN FOOD RELIEF X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 7/18/1997 Dear GC members and chapter presidents: Namaste. Here is another important issue. Please send fax as indicated to Russian Embassy/Parliamanet, Russia. Thank you. Brotherly, Gaurang --------------------- Forwarded message: From: milind-deshpande@uiowa.edu (Milind Deshpande) To: akankani@mcimail.com Date: 97-07-10 16:52:22 EDT ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Dear Friends, I know that you are extremely busy with your own compassionate agendas, but if you would take a few minutes to read the attached message, I would be most grateful. The Russian Parliament on July 4 approved legislation that would curb religious freedom in the country and, consequently, outlaw the country's largest (and perhaps only) vegetarian hunger relief program. Hare Krishna Food for Life (HKFFL), a project of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) operates 50 chapters in major Russian cities. HKFFL feeds more than 10,000 needy Russians a day. An international campaign is underway to convince Russian President Boris Yeltsin to veto the legislation. I have included information on the issue below. I hope that you will kindly read it and fax a letter to President Yeltsin asking him to veto the bill. We will need significant international input to overcome the intense lobbying by vested Russian interests in favor of the bill. Please forward this message to other vegetarians and vegetarian organizations that would be concerned. If you would like more information on the legislation, you may contact me. Thank you for your consideration. Premananda dasa ISKCON of New England Boston, MA, USA ================================================================= VEGETARIAN HUNGER RELIEF AGENCY UNDER ATTACK IN RUSSIA Bill Would Force Hare Krishna Food for Life to Close Down Dear Friends, It's an unusual case of biting the hand that feeds... Under a bill restricting religious freedom passed by the Russian Duma (legislature), the country's largest vegetarian food relief organization, Hare Krishna Food for Life (HKFFL), would be forced to shut down and its assets liquidated. The bill, promoted in part by conservative elements of the Russian Orthodox Church, would give partial legal rights to local synagogues, churches and monasteries that have been operating in Russia for the past 15 years. National religious organizations and affiliated projects like HKFFL would have to prove 50 years of service to receive legal rights and protection. HKFFL's parent organization, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was one of the first religious groups to receive official recognition under Gorbachev ten years ago. All ISKCON temples and projects would be liquidated under the new legislation. To the best of our knowledge, HKFFL is the only nationwide vegetarian hunger relief project in Russia. HKFFL operates 50 chapters in Russia serving more than 10,000 needy Russians each day. Hare Krishna volunteers from St. Petersburg set up a soup kitchen in a bombed school building in Grozny, Chechnya. For many residents of the embattled city, it was their only meal of the day. A New York Times article of December 12, 1995 reported: "Here, they have a reputation like the one Mother Teresa has in Calcutta: it's not hard finding people to swear they are saints. In a city full of lies, greed and corruption, the Krishnas deliver the goods. Each day they serve more than 1,000 hot meals, as many as any organization in the city." Earlier this year, one HKFFL volunteer was killed when the Grozny civilian hospital where he was delivering meals was shelled. Each HKFFL chapter is staffed by local volunteers receiving donations from individuals and governmental sources. All HKFFL personnel and kitchens are affiliated with Hare Krishna temples. HKFFL is also one of the largest proponents of vegetarianism in Russia today. The Hare Krishna movement publishes the country's best-selling vegetarian cookbook, The Higher Taste, and broadcasts vegetarian cooking shows on television. If the bill is signed into law, conservative forces in other former-Soviet nations will likely introduce similar legislation. Scores more Food for Life chapters may be lost. It is imperative that we act NOW to protect the growing vegetarian movement in Russia. Please FAX your opposition to the bill to one of the following numbers TODAY. Please copy your federal representatives and ask them to communicate their opposition as well. Attached is a draft of a letter which could be sent to President Yeltsin. Please feel free to modify it to suit your own expression and experience. TIME IS VERY SHORT. THE BILL IS ON PRESIDENT YELTSIN'S DESK. AT BEST WE HAVE ONE WEEK BEFORE THE BILL BECOMES LAW. PLEASE FAX YOUR LETTER IMMEDIATELY TO EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING: Mr. Ruslan Gennadyvich Orekhov, Legal Directorate of the Office of the President FAX 007 095 206 3178 OR His Excellency Ambassador Vorontsov, 2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. FAX 1-202-298-5735 ====================SAMPLE LETTER BELOW====================== His Excellency President Boris Yeltsin The Kremlin Moscow, Russia Dear President Yeltsin: We understand that the Russian State Duma has recently passed legislation entitled "On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations". If enacted, the bill would ban or considerably limit the activities of minority religious organizations. For instance, the proposed law would forbid religious groups that have been registered in Russia for less than 50 years from engaging in charitable activities. One of the side effects of this legislation would be the liquidation of Russia's largest vegetarian food relief program, Hare Krishna Food for Life (HKFFL), a project of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). HKFFL Global serves almost 15 million meals a year to disaster victims and the impoverished in more than 60 countries. HKFFL has 50 chapters in Russia serving more than 10,000 hot meals a day to needy men, women and children. Each chapter is staffed and managed by local volunteers (ISKCON's monks, nuns and priests) with donations from private and government sources. ISKCON has been registered in Russia for only the past ten years. As a vegetarian, I support the work of HKFFL to provide needy Russian citizens with a balanced, wholesome vegetarian diet. Rather than threatening HKFFL, Russian officials should be eager to cooperate with them to alleviate economic pressures on individuals as Russia makes the painful transition into the market economy. Last November in St. Petersburg, HKFFL treated the city's residents to a week-long International Festival of Vegetarianism. The festival included cultural programs, an interfaith conference and cooking demonstration, concerts and theatrical presentations. Eighteen thousand people, including invalids, orphans, veterans and labor heroes, were fed during the week. Not only would this legislation be a most unfortunate regression toward the religious intolerance of Russia's past, it would also mean that 10,000 Russians would go to bed hungry every night. I therefore request that you veto the bill. Thank you very much for your kind consideration. Sincerely yours, _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From ajay@mercury.aichem.arizona.edu Fri Jul 18 20:49:32 1997 Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 16:52:32 -0700 (MST) From: Ajay Shah To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Re: Fwd: RUSSIAN VEGETARIAN FOOD RELIEF In-Reply-To: <970718203737_161674904@emout05.mail.aol.com> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Namaskar Gaurangbhai Can VHP-A issue a press release in this regards? Rajiv Varma is drafting a letter of protest, we can use that in press release form, and issue it on behalf of General Secretary of VHP-A? regards, ajay On Fri, 18 Jul 1997 VICHARAK@aol.com wrote: > 7/18/1997 > > Dear GC members and chapter presidents: > > Namaste. Here is another important issue. Please send fax as indicated to > Russian Embassy/Parliamanet, Russia. > > Thank you. > > Brotherly, > > Gaurang > --------------------- > Forwarded message: > From: milind-deshpande@uiowa.edu (Milind Deshpande) > To: akankani@mcimail.com > Date: 97-07-10 16:52:22 EDT > > > ------- Forwarded message follows ------- > Dear Friends, > > I know that you are extremely busy with your own compassionate agendas, > but if you would take a few minutes to read the attached message, I would > be most grateful. > > The Russian Parliament on July 4 approved legislation that would curb > religious freedom in the country and, consequently, outlaw the country's > largest (and perhaps only) vegetarian hunger relief program. > > Hare Krishna Food for Life (HKFFL), a project of the International > Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) operates 50 chapters in major > Russian cities. HKFFL feeds more than 10,000 needy Russians a day. > > An international campaign is underway to convince Russian President Boris > Yeltsin to veto the legislation. I have included information on the > issue below. I hope that you will kindly read it and fax a letter to > President Yeltsin asking him to veto the bill. > > We will need significant international input to overcome the intense > lobbying by vested Russian interests in favor of the bill. Please > forward this message to other vegetarians and vegetarian organizations > that would be concerned. > > If you would like more information on the legislation, you may contact > me. > > Thank you for your consideration. > > Premananda dasa > ISKCON of New England > Boston, MA, USA > ================================================================= > VEGETARIAN HUNGER RELIEF AGENCY UNDER ATTACK IN RUSSIA > Bill Would Force Hare Krishna Food for Life to Close Down > > Dear Friends, > > It's an unusual case of biting the hand that feeds... Under a bill > restricting religious freedom passed by the Russian Duma (legislature), > the country's largest vegetarian food relief organization, Hare Krishna > Food for Life (HKFFL), would be forced to shut down and its assets > liquidated. > > The bill, promoted in part by conservative elements of the Russian > Orthodox Church, would give partial legal rights to local synagogues, > churches and monasteries that have been operating in Russia for the past > 15 years. National religious organizations and affiliated projects like > HKFFL would have to prove 50 years of service to receive legal rights and > protection. > > HKFFL's parent organization, the International Society for Krishna > Consciousness (ISKCON) was one of the first religious groups to receive > official recognition under Gorbachev ten years ago. All ISKCON temples > and projects would be liquidated under the new legislation. > > To the best of our knowledge, HKFFL is the only nationwide vegetarian > hunger relief project in Russia. HKFFL operates 50 chapters in Russia > serving more than 10,000 needy Russians each day. Hare Krishna > volunteers from St. Petersburg set up a soup kitchen in a bombed school > building in Grozny, Chechnya. For many residents of the embattled city, > it was their only meal of the day. A New York Times article of December > 12, 1995 reported: "Here, they have a reputation like the one Mother > Teresa has in Calcutta: it's not hard finding people to swear they are > saints. In a city full of lies, greed and corruption, the Krishnas > deliver the goods. Each day they serve more than 1,000 hot meals, as > many as any organization in the city." Earlier this year, one HKFFL > volunteer was killed when the Grozny civilian hospital where he was > delivering meals was shelled. > > Each HKFFL chapter is staffed by local volunteers receiving donations > from individuals and governmental sources. All HKFFL personnel and > kitchens are affiliated with Hare Krishna temples. HKFFL is also one of > the largest proponents of vegetarianism in Russia today. The Hare > Krishna movement publishes the country's best-selling vegetarian > cookbook, The Higher Taste, and broadcasts vegetarian cooking shows on > television. > > If the bill is signed into law, conservative forces in other > former-Soviet nations will likely introduce similar legislation. Scores > more Food for Life chapters may be lost. It is imperative that we act > NOW to protect the growing vegetarian movement in Russia. Please FAX > your opposition to the bill to one of the following numbers TODAY. > Please copy your federal representatives and ask them to communicate > their opposition as well. > > Attached is a draft of a letter which could be sent to President Yeltsin. > Please feel free to modify it to suit your own expression and > experience. > > TIME IS VERY SHORT. THE BILL IS ON PRESIDENT YELTSIN'S DESK. AT BEST WE > HAVE ONE WEEK BEFORE THE BILL BECOMES LAW. PLEASE FAX YOUR LETTER > IMMEDIATELY TO EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING: > > Mr. Ruslan Gennadyvich Orekhov, Legal Directorate of the Office of the > President > FAX 007 095 206 3178 > > OR > > His Excellency Ambassador Vorontsov, 2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, > Washington, D.C. > FAX 1-202-298-5735 > > ====================SAMPLE LETTER BELOW====================== > > His Excellency President Boris Yeltsin > The Kremlin > Moscow, Russia > > Dear President Yeltsin: > > We understand that the Russian State Duma has recently passed legislation > entitled "On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations". If > enacted, the bill would ban or considerably limit the activities of > minority religious organizations. For instance, the proposed law would > forbid religious groups that have been registered in Russia for less than > 50 years from engaging in charitable activities. > > One of the side effects of this legislation would be the liquidation of > Russia's largest vegetarian food relief program, Hare Krishna Food for > Life (HKFFL), a project of the International Society for Krishna > Consciousness (ISKCON). HKFFL Global serves almost 15 million meals a > year to disaster victims and the impoverished in more than 60 countries. > > HKFFL has 50 chapters in Russia serving more than 10,000 hot meals a day > to needy men, women and children. Each chapter is staffed and managed by > local volunteers (ISKCON's monks, nuns and priests) with donations from > private and government sources. ISKCON has been registered in Russia for > only the past ten years. > > As a vegetarian, I support the work of HKFFL to provide needy Russian > citizens with a balanced, wholesome vegetarian diet. Rather than > threatening HKFFL, Russian officials should be eager to cooperate with > them to alleviate economic pressures on individuals as Russia makes the > painful transition into the market economy. > > Last November in St. Petersburg, HKFFL treated the city's residents to a > week-long International Festival of Vegetarianism. The festival included > cultural programs, an interfaith conference and cooking demonstration, > concerts and theatrical presentations. Eighteen thousand people, > including invalids, orphans, veterans and labor heroes, were fed during > the week. > > Not only would this legislation be a most unfortunate regression toward > the religious intolerance of Russia's past, it would also mean that > 10,000 Russians would go to bed hungry every night. I therefore request > that you veto the bill. > > Thank you very much for your kind consideration. > > Sincerely yours, > > > > > > _____________________________ > For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org > > > _____________________________ For help, send an e-mail with HELP body to: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Comments and questions are welcome, use: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org From VICHARAK@aol.com Fri Jul 18 20:53:35 1997 From: VICHARAK@aol.com Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 20:52:58 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <970718205039_1014886048@emout05.mail.aol.com> To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Subject: Fwd: Appeal from Indian consulate X-Loop: owner-vhpgc-l@hindunet.org X-Mailing-List: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Reply-To: vhpgc-l@hindunet.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 7/18/1997 Dear GC members and chapter presidents: Namaste. This is the third mail I am forwarding to all of you. Even if you cannot act on all three of them. please try to act on at least one. Thanks. Brotherly, Gaurang --------------------- Forwarded message: From: milind-deshpande@uiowa.edu (Milind Deshpande) To: INDIA-NEWS@INDNET.ORG Date: 97-07-15 08:30:43 EDT Dear Friends: Congressman Dan Burton proposes to move an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriation Bill suggesting cut in US aid to India. The amendment is to be discussed on July 16, 1997. You have been very helpful in apprising your