Samskrit Village "Matur" in Bharat now in Bajaj ad

Samskrit is the primary tongue of the villagers in Matur Village in Karnataka. The village, which is around 10 km from Shimoga, having been making sure that the ancient language flourishes in their village.

The seed for change was sown in 1982, when the organization, Samskruta Bharathi, got together a 10-day programme to teach the villagers spoken Sanskrit. And, people in this primarily agricultural society eagerly took part in the unique experiment. Now, Sanskrit has become the primary tongue for many of the residents.

This village and the neighboring Hosahalli are mainly populated by Sanketis, who speak Sanskrit at home. And, it is not just them who speak the language. The village has a fair share of people from other communities, and all of them are exposed to Sanskrit. Local teachers attribute the fluency to the dedication with which a “new language’ was learnt.

Another village that converses in Sanskrit in India is Jhiri village in Rajgarh District of Madhya Pradesh.

SHIVCHARITRA 'vyakhyan'by Shivsahir babasaheb Purandare in Marathi

Shri Babasaheb Purandare has narrated complete life of Shivaji Maharaj in Marathi in set of 15 CDs

1.Shivpurvakal
2.Shivjanma
3.Balpan
4.Swarajyachi pranpratishtha
5.Swarajya vistar
6.Afzalkhan swari
7.Afzalkhan Parabhav
8.Pavankhind
9.Firangoji Narasal
10.Lal mahalavar chapa
11.Surtevar swari
12.Mirzaraje jaisingh
13.Agrayahun sutka
14.Tanhaji
15.Rajyaabhishek

I have uploaded the Cds here

http://rapidshare.com/files/ 278212927/ShivCharitra.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/ 278225246/ShivCharitra.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/ 278231797/ShivCharitra.zip.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/ 278230070/ShivCharitra.zip.004

Shri Babasaheb Purandare has taken such great efforts to record this, all the listeners should show some token of appreciation.

I can facilitate, if anyone is interested in contributing contact me at nikhiltambe at gmail dot com

Dhanyawad

Amarnath Rath Yatra

Amarnath Rath Yatra Sangharsh.

Part 1



Part 2

Sarawati River will flow again

River Saraswati will flow once again

A 3 day conference was recently conducted in Delhi to bring together scholars of different scientific disciplines and of ancient history of the Indian subcontinent, and provide a multi-disciplinary forum for the scholars to present and collectively review the results of their studies relating to the ancient Vedic river Sarasvati. The Conference explored the validation of a consensus that the ancient civilization that emerged and prospered on the banks of the river Sarasvati is the precursor to the civilization that is known and exists today as Hindu civilization, establishing a very long continuum of human society and achievement.

During the Conference, the ongoing work to facilitate the flowing again of the river Sarasvati above the surface was highlighted. This rebirth of River Sarasvati would benefit around 200 million people of India in various States—Uttaranchal, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and
Gujarat. Presentations on the efforts underway in the State of Haryana to bring the Manasarovar glacier waters through Rajasthan were highlighted in the Conference.

Saraswati, a majestic river, after originating in Himalaya flowed through present day Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat prior to joining the Arabian Sea. Ancient Vedic culture flourished on its banks. Important towns like Kurukshetra, Pehowa, Shatrana, Sirsa, Kalibangan, Pilibangan, Suratgarh, Beriwal etc flourished on its banks. Our former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was very excited on seeing a photograph of the River with water and he endorsed his reaction in our visitors\' book as – \'Delighted to see the
hard work in realizing reality from epic information\'- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Recently, subsurface water started oozing out within a pond of the famous Kapil Muni Ashram in Kalayat (Haryana). A multi-disciplinary scientific team studied the oozing water and the sand that accompanied it. Dr. A R Chaudhri of Kurukshetra University found a suite of angular heavy minerals having their source in higher Himalayan rocks. Dr. A K Gupta & Dr B K Bhadra of ISRO identified fossil valleys of Vedic Saraswati in the area from the study of space imageries and concluded that this water was of aforesaid river. Sh Rajesh Purohit conducted geomorphologic studies and concluded that this water belonged to Vedic Saraswati that has been described in Rigveda and other scriptures. Later on, he along with his team discovered the actual river bed near Jyotisar (Kurukshetra).

During the course of scientific studies carried out from space imageries, scientists from ISRO discovered a number of fossil valleys restricted to areas around Kurukshetra, Pehowa etc. in upper central Haryana. They interpreted it as remnants of the meandering Vedic Saraswati. Based on satellite imagery, they have drawn out a map of Saraswati River from Glacier to Rann of Kachch.

Dr M R Rao, GGM, ONGC alongwith his team, undertook drilling near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and got a discharge of 76000 litres/hr of water from one of the wells. Out of 24 wells, drinking water was obtained from 23 wells. Scientific tests on this subterranean water revealed that this water belonged to an old river that once existed here. This old river was none other than Vedic Saraswati. ONGC has now been approached by Haryana overnment to undertake drilling at Kalayat and Kapal Mochan in Haryana under their Phase-II programme.

Besides the above scientific evidences, village wise revenue record has been collected and compiled proving the flow of Saraswati Nadi in continuity. Survey of India topo-sheets tally with these revenue records. Based on these revenue records, about 50km of Saraswati
channel has already been cleared by digging by Haryana Irrigation Department.Any visitor to the archaeological sites at Kunal (District Fatehabad, Haryana) will find shells in the river bed. A friend of archaeology would show a conch recovered from Rakhigarhi (Distrist
Jind, Haryana) excavation.

\"Unfortunately inspite of the overwhelming evidence and public demand, the Govt. took no steps to revive the River. The matter was brought before the Hon\'ble High Court, Haryana-Punjab at Chandigarh through a Civil Writ Petition (CWP 8561 of 1996) by Shri D.P. Dastoor an advocate of Pehowa (Kurukshetra), Hon\'ble Justice Amarjeet Chaudhary passed the order :-

\" we direct Deputy Commissioner Kurukshetra and the Municipal Committee Pehowa to remove all encroachments from the land entries of which are in favour of Saraswati river.\"

Unbelievably, all encroachments were removed voluntarily without any use of force. The monumental work of Govt. & Public co-operation at Pehowa has been beautifully documented by the District Administration in a souvenir (samarika). It is gratifying to add that the Haryana Government has now adopted the Saraswati Project and they have recently held a seminar on the revival of Saraswati River at Kurukshetra on October 22, 2008. Thus, all the evidences mentioned above point to only one conclusion that Vedic Saraswati no longer remains a debatable issue.

------------------------------------

New finds take archaeologists closer to Krishna

Sources -
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/New_finds_take_archaeologists_closer_to_Krishna/articleshow/3898205.cms

CHENNAI: The conch and the Sudarshana Chakra are unmistakable. Although the figures do not match popular images of Kirshna sporting a peacock feather, archaeologists are convinced that the coins are of Krishna, revered as an avatar of Vishnu.

"These square coins, dating back to 180- BC, with Krishna on one side and Balram on the other, were unearthed recently in Al Khanoun in Afghanistan and are the earliest proof that Krishna was venerated as a god, and that the worship had spread beyond the Mathura region," says T K V Rajan, archaeologist and founder-director, Indian Science Monitor, who is holding a five-day exhibition, In search of Lord Krishna,' in the city from Saturday.

Having done extensive research in Brindavan, Rajan is convinced that a lot of the spiritual history of ancient India lies buried. "Close to 10,000 Greeks, who came in the wake of Alexander the Great, were Krishna's devotees. There is an inscription by Heliodorus, the Greek ambassador at Takshila , which reads Deva, deva, Vasudeva. Krishna is my god and I have installed this Garuda Pillar at Bes Nagar (now in Bihar),'" says Rajan.

According to him the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has unearthed many sites that throw fresh light on the era of Krishna. "ASI is expected to release the full findings next year. Many of the unearthed artifact have a close resemblance to materials of what is believed to be the Harappan civilisation. The findings may show that Krishna's life was the dividing line between India's spiritual history and the society's gradual shift towards a materialistic one," says Rajan.

Interestingly, a lot of what has been uncovered closely resemble the narration in the texts of Mahabharatha and the Bhagavatham," he adds. Both the spiritual works are revered by the Hindus as their holy books.

It has been over five years since the discoveries were made at Tholavira near Dwaraka, close to Kutch. Much progress has been made due to the application of thermoluminous study (TL) in ascertaining the age of artifact. "It is possible to get the diffusion of atomic particles in the clay pottery unearthed and arrive at an accurate date," points out Rajan. Tholavira itself is believed to be the capital city as detailed in the opening chapters of Bhagavatham. Rajan points to an image of a plough, made of wood, which is mentioned in the Bhagavatham.

The findings could lay a trail to understanding Krishna's life (said to be 5,000 years ago) and times, as a historical fact, says Rajan. The exhibition will be open till December 31 at Sri Parvathy Gallery, Eldams Road.

The Truth about World Vision - Conversion in the name of Charity

The Truth about World Vision
28/12/2008 13:50:26 COURTESY- http://hamsa.org/world.vision.htm and Hindu Voice

by V. K. Sashikumar

The author is a noted investigative journalist for Tehelka. This article was prepared by him for IBNLive.com (the online arm of CNN-IBN, owned and funded by the Southern Baptist Church in the US) under the title “Preparing for the Harvest”, which IBNLive so far has not published it as it exposes World Vision’s Christian missionary activities in India. Donars to World Vision India - Rs 256 crores collected in 2008 - believe it to be the premier NGO working in India for the upliftment of the poor and downtrodden. In fact it is the premier Christian missionary organisation working in India for the harvesting souls for Jesus. Since the killing of Swami Lakshmanananda and the resultant communal violence in Orissa in August 2008, World Vision’s funding and missionary activities have come under the scanner of the Home Ministry in New Delhi.

W orld Vision, the world’s largest Christian church mission agency, has traditionally been closely linked with successive American governments. The former US Ambassador for International Religious Freedoms, Dr Robert Seiple, was World Vision chief for 11 years till 1998 when he was picked by former president, Bill Clinton, to head the office of International Religious Freedoms. Around the period when Seiple was the president of World Vision, its vice-president from 1993 to 1998 was Andrew S. Natsios. He is now the administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). For more than 40 years, USAID has been the leading government agency providing economic and humanitarian assistance to developing countries.

W orld Vision’s focus is children and community development. It is involved in more than 162 projects in 25 states. It projects its community development programmes as “holistic development”. This is implemented through Area Development Programmes (ADP). Each ADP works in an area that is contiguous geographically, economically or ethnically. These programmes provide access to clean drinking water, healthcare, education and setting up of income generating projects. But infused with such development works is the spiritual component - Bible classes.

In India, World Vision projects itself as a “Christian relief and development agency with more than 40 years experience in working with the poorest of the poor in India without respect to race, region, religion, gender or caste.” However, Tehelka has in its possession US-based World Vision Inc.’s financial statement filed before the Internal Revenue Service, wherein, it is classified as a Christian church ministry. In any case, its mission statement is self-explanatory: “World Vision is an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in working with the poor and oppressed, to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the Good News of the Kingdom of God.”

Though World Vision has consultative status with UNESCO and partnerships with UN agencies like UNICEF, WHO, UNHCR and ILO, the fact is that its financial records reveal that it has funded evangelical activities all over the world including India. World Vision uses its international clout and its close links with the US government through USAID to network with governments and corporate entities in the developing world.

World Vision has an ongoing channel of interaction with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII); in its 2003 financial report it states that “the Rural Development Department of the Government of Assam recognized World Vision India as a leading development agency in the state and has recommended that World Vision be the choice for receiving bilateral funds. The government has also sought World Vision’s assistance in creating a proposal for US$ 80 million for development work in the state.”

The income and expenditure account for the year ended September 30, 2002 shows that its total income was Rs 95.5 crores, which included foreign contribution of Rs 87.8 crores. For an organisation that claims to be only involved in development and relief work, it is quite secretive about its positioning and exact nature of activities. When approached by Tehelka as part of its undercover operation for an interview, World Vision India’s national director, Dr Jayakumar Christian, after having agreed to the interview backed out because he wanted copies of the fictitious Christian magazine that Tehelka claimed to be representing.

However, what goes unnoticed by the governments and the corporate world is World Vision India’s evangelical missions as part of its development agenda. Proselytisation (conversion of faith) is an integral part of its provision of development services under its much-touted ADP programmes. Though none of the literature published by World Vision India even mentions its evangelisation missions, foreign publications of World Vision India proudly proclaim its “spiritual” component.

Take, for instance, World Vision New Zealand’s report (4 September 2002) on the funding of ADP in Dahod, Gujarat. Under the head, “spiritual development” the report states:

“Held a vacation Bible school for 150 children from different villages. The children participated in games, Bible quizzes, drama and other activities. Organised a one-day spiritual retreat for 40 young people and a children’s Christmas party. Each of Dahod’s 45 villages chose five needy children to attend the party.” In Dumaria, Banka district, eastern Bihar, “the ADP supports local churches by running leadership-training courses for pastors and church leaders.”

What has an Area Development Programme (ADP) got to do with running leadership training courses for pastors and church leaders? Incidentally, World Vision New Zealand funds ADP programmes in the tribal pockets of India. The New Zealand Government’s Voluntary Agencies Support Scheme (VASS) jointly fund the two-year project, the NZ government matching World Vision contributions on a 2:1 basis. There are many other instances of evangelical programmes run by World Vision India.

In the Gajapati ADP, situated in Gumma Block of Orissa’s Gajapati district, a World Vision report admits that “Canadian missionaries have worked in the area for just over 50 years and today 85-90 percent of the community is Christian. However, local church leaders had little understanding of the importance of their role in community development. ADP staff build relationships with these leaders to improve church co-operation and participation in development initiatives.” Here World Vision organised two training camps for local church leaders in holistic development.

In Mayurbhanj, again in Orissa, World Vision regularly organises spiritual development programmes as part of its ADP package. The World Vision report says: “Opposition to Christian workers and organisations flares up occasionally in this area, generally from those with vested interests in tribal people remaining illiterate and powerless. World Vision supports local churches by organising leadership courses for pastors and church leaders.”

World Vision India is active in Bhil tribal areas and openly admits its evangelical intentions: “The Bhil people worship ancestral spirits but also celebrate all the Hindu festivals. Their superstitions about evil spirits make them suspicious of change, which hinders community development. ADP staff live among the Bhil people they work with, gaining the villagers’ trust and showing their Christian love for the people by their actions and commitment.”

This being the case it is not surprising that World Vision India was honoured with the 2003 Mahatma Gandhi Award for Social Justice. This award is hosted by the All India Christian Council. Incidentally, Joseph D’Souza who was AICC’s President during that year also heads an evangelical network, Operation Mobilisation, in India. Operation Mobilisation, again, is an American missionary organisation. It was founded by Georg Verwer and today is a global ministry “committed to working in partnership with churches and other Christian organisations for the purpose of World mission.”

Courtesy: Hindu Voice, December 2008