Armchair Interviews: Shattered Dreams
Shattered Dreams
by Irene Spencer
Published by Center Street (August release)
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Lauretta Ali
Irene Spencer’s heartbreaking memoir, Shattered Dreams, tells the true story of the life of a polygamist wife. Born into a fifth-generation polygamous family, Irene was the daughter of a second wife. Her father had a total of four wives and thirty-one children. Polygamy was not only accepted but expected by all who believed in “the Principle.” It was this principle that led the author to become the second wife at the tender age of sixteen.
The author takes you on a journey that is frequented by pain and rejection. Irene settles into a plural marriage but is never happy. She ends up marrying the husband of her own half sister, Charlotte, which causes both women much misery. Irene settles into a life of poverty and rejection that at times seems almost unbearable. Then, her husband, Verlan LeBaron, decides to take on another wife. Irene finds herself alone and pregnant most of the marriage. The road to freedom is a long and tedious one.
Shattered Dreams is a story of one woman’s conflict between her religious beliefs and her own human needs. Irene endures the unimaginable as she fights to free herself and her children from a life of bondage and pain.
I experienced great sadness and joy while reading this brave woman’s story. I rejoiced when she finally escaped from this maddening situation into a glorious new day and life. I encourage all who believe that dreams do come true, to read this fantastic story. I celebrate Irene’s courage to pick up the pieces of her Shattered Dreams and step into the promise of a brand new tomorrow.
Armchair Interviews says: A true story of hope for a better future.
From our armchair to yours...
© 2008 CASI Publishing, All Rights Reserved.
Web Development by Creative Arc, Minneapolis Web Design.
book reviews and author interviews
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Irene Spencer : Shattered Dreams
"Shattered Dreams by Irene Spencer is a masterpiece. What courage it took to carve out a life in a polygamist cult for twenty-eight years, sharing her husband with his nine other wives, caring for her thirteen children in the starkness of poverty, and trying to come to terms with a religion that had swallowed up her identity. Spencer's personal portrait as a long-suffering wife in the LeBaron Colony based in Mexico is a true, heart-wrenching story, but one that's long overdue, exposing the bleak, spirit-crushing world of plural marriage. A must read."
--Bud Gardner, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul
"Irene Spencer is proof that the human spirit survives intact after decades of psychological suffering. Her story shows how inhumane behavior spans cultures, universally wearing the same face, while humane impulses thrive in the indestructable nature of the spirit. Her memoir begs the question--will we (like Irene) ultimately choose the best of ourselves over the negative forces that invade our lives? Will we follow our innermost voice leading us out of harmful circumstances and beyond our former disempowerment?"
--Maxine Hanks, author, editor, feminist theologian, Merrill Fellow
"In Shattered Dreams, Irene Spencer describes a way of life that most of us don't even realize exists. Irene shares with us her agony and heartbreak as she survives horrid living conditions, heartbreak, and a husband who takes wife after wife. Few writers can bring out the heartbreak of living in a polygamous marriage the way Irene does. This book is a must read."
--Duane Newcomb, Author, Literary Consultant
copyright 2006 - IreneSpencerBooks.com
--Bud Gardner, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul
"Irene Spencer is proof that the human spirit survives intact after decades of psychological suffering. Her story shows how inhumane behavior spans cultures, universally wearing the same face, while humane impulses thrive in the indestructable nature of the spirit. Her memoir begs the question--will we (like Irene) ultimately choose the best of ourselves over the negative forces that invade our lives? Will we follow our innermost voice leading us out of harmful circumstances and beyond our former disempowerment?"
--Maxine Hanks, author, editor, feminist theologian, Merrill Fellow
"In Shattered Dreams, Irene Spencer describes a way of life that most of us don't even realize exists. Irene shares with us her agony and heartbreak as she survives horrid living conditions, heartbreak, and a husband who takes wife after wife. Few writers can bring out the heartbreak of living in a polygamous marriage the way Irene does. This book is a must read."
--Duane Newcomb, Author, Literary Consultant
copyright 2006 - IreneSpencerBooks.com
IreneSpencerBooks.com
IreneSpencerBooks.com
The Official Irene Spencer Web Site
Irene was twenty-three and already had five children when this photo was taken.
NOW AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE
Irene Spencer was born February 1, 1937, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon family- the 13th of thirty-one children. Her mother was the second of her father's eventual six wives. It was no surprise she found herself, at sixteen years of age in a plural marriage, sharing her husband with a half-sister.
Enduring abject poverty, living in isolation, and suffering the neglect of a husband with divided loyalties to 10 wives, created unbearable conditions. Irene mothered 14 of her husband's 58 children. Through all of this, she managed to overcome these impossible odds to seek a life that she believed would be better for her and her children. She made the bold step into the "outside world" and into a freedom she never knew existed.
The Official Irene Spencer Web Site
Irene was twenty-three and already had five children when this photo was taken.
NOW AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE
Irene Spencer was born February 1, 1937, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She grew up in a fundamentalist Mormon family- the 13th of thirty-one children. Her mother was the second of her father's eventual six wives. It was no surprise she found herself, at sixteen years of age in a plural marriage, sharing her husband with a half-sister.
Enduring abject poverty, living in isolation, and suffering the neglect of a husband with divided loyalties to 10 wives, created unbearable conditions. Irene mothered 14 of her husband's 58 children. Through all of this, she managed to overcome these impossible odds to seek a life that she believed would be better for her and her children. She made the bold step into the "outside world" and into a freedom she never knew existed.
Family Role of the Husband
Family-Role of the Husband
Rev. Dr. T. Jacob Thomas
What is the Christian concept of family and what is the role husband as the leader of the family? These questions will be briefly discussed in the following paragraphs.
Bible uses two words to denote family: one is “patria”, a Greek word referring to the historical descent and biological lineage and the second is “oikos,” another Greek word for a house or household which includes not only blood relatives but also other dependents like slaves and other helpers in the house. Oikos is translated to Latin with the word, “familias,” from which the English word family comes. Oikos, is more commonly used in the New Testament for family. For example, in Acts 10 the whole household of Cornelius receives baptism, meaning, all who are associated with his house, including servants. The English word, husband, is derived from the old Nordic (Norse) word, “husbondi,” with the meaning, manager or steward (keeper of animals) of the house and tiller of the soil, the head of the household. It is interesting that in the New Testament some women are also mentioned as the heads of households such as Lydia, Nympha and Priscilla.
In the New Testament Christ is presented as the model of a husband. Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave his life for it” (Eph. 5:25). Here husband’s role is not of domination but of sacrifice. Husbands as the head of the family must emulate the role of Jesus in their relation to other members of the family. Mutual submission to one another in Christ is the model code of conduct in a Christian family. Children must be loved and protected as Jesus would do. Neighbours, both of one’s own faith and of other faiths, must be respected as Jesus showed us in his relation to the Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman. People in need, the poor and the hungry, the rejected and ridiculed must be loved and taken care of. Husband has a leadership role in the family and that must be exercised in humility and with grace.
Rev. Dr. T. Jacob Thomas
What is the Christian concept of family and what is the role husband as the leader of the family? These questions will be briefly discussed in the following paragraphs.
Bible uses two words to denote family: one is “patria”, a Greek word referring to the historical descent and biological lineage and the second is “oikos,” another Greek word for a house or household which includes not only blood relatives but also other dependents like slaves and other helpers in the house. Oikos is translated to Latin with the word, “familias,” from which the English word family comes. Oikos, is more commonly used in the New Testament for family. For example, in Acts 10 the whole household of Cornelius receives baptism, meaning, all who are associated with his house, including servants. The English word, husband, is derived from the old Nordic (Norse) word, “husbondi,” with the meaning, manager or steward (keeper of animals) of the house and tiller of the soil, the head of the household. It is interesting that in the New Testament some women are also mentioned as the heads of households such as Lydia, Nympha and Priscilla.
In the New Testament Christ is presented as the model of a husband. Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave his life for it” (Eph. 5:25). Here husband’s role is not of domination but of sacrifice. Husbands as the head of the family must emulate the role of Jesus in their relation to other members of the family. Mutual submission to one another in Christ is the model code of conduct in a Christian family. Children must be loved and protected as Jesus would do. Neighbours, both of one’s own faith and of other faiths, must be respected as Jesus showed us in his relation to the Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman. People in need, the poor and the hungry, the rejected and ridiculed must be loved and taken care of. Husband has a leadership role in the family and that must be exercised in humility and with grace.
Monday, April 28, 2008
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Indonesians seek salvation in shops
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Indonesians seek salvation in shops
Indonesians seek salvation in shops
By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, West Java
Indonesian Christians
Shopping malls in West Java are home to a number of Christian congregations
Empty shopping malls are eerie, and this one is no different.
But in the dim light of early morning, figures can be seen slipping past the security guards, their footsteps echoing down empty corridors.
It is Sunday morning, not yet 8 o'clock, and the shops are all still locked and shuttered.
But these people have not come to shop; they have come to pray.
Shopping malls in West Java are home to a growing number of Christian congregations. There are 10 in this mall alone.
Few of them want to talk publicly about why they are here, but off the record they admit it comes down to intimidation by Muslim groups.
According to Church groups more than 100 churches have faced attack or intimidation in the past two years.
Religion or rules?
One of the groups alleged to be behind some of these incidents is the FPI, or Islamic Defenders Front, a radical group that became a household name when it forced Playboy magazine out of Java.
FPI crew
Christians complain the FPI use threats to pressurise churches into closing
Church leaders allege the group's members are forcing churches to close through violence and intimidation.
Saipul Abdullah, the head of the FPI in this area, told me that there may be people at the grassroots level who react emotionally.
"They become very angry and frustrated and little eruptions can happen," he said.
"Maybe they'll tear down a sign, or shake some doors, or lock some doors, but they don't really have the right to do that."
But, he said, this was not about religion. It is about the fact that some churches are not playing by the rules.
Only 20% of the Churches in this province have an official permit to hold religious services.
It's not only about the permits, but about being Christian
Pastor Olbertina Modesta
To the others, often housed in temporary buildings, Saipul Abdullah and his group send letters asking for proof of their legal status.
If they get no response, he told me, they issue a warning letter, and then pass the matter on to the police.
To get an official permit, congregations must get 90 signatures of support from their non-Christian neighbours.
But in some areas, that is not easy to do.
Islamic stronghold
Pasundan Church has been holding services in a suburb of Bandung for more than 60 years.
But its pastor, Olbertina Modesta, says that whenever they try to collect the signatures they need to make the site official, no one wants to sign.
Indonesian Christians
Many Christians now feel too scared to hold major services in public places
West Java has a strong history of Islamic activism.
For decades it was a stronghold of the radical Islamic group Darul Islam, and many areas still retain preachers with hard-line views.
Last November, Pasundan church was attacked by a group of local Muslims.
They threw out the pews and prayer books, and smashed anything else they could - including the cross hanging on the wall.
But Pastor Olbertina doesn't believe this is simply a bureaucratic row.
"Sometimes I heard that the mosque is saying we are kaffirs, and we're not allowed to stay here," she told me.
"So that's why I believe it's not only about the permits, but about being Christian."
Police say no one has so far been arrested for the attack. Pastor Olbertina now holds her weekly service at a local hospital.
Shopping malls and hospitals don't have religious licences either, but they are a bit more secure.
And until congregations like hers can find a permanent home, it is where they will stay.
Indonesians seek salvation in shops
By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, West Java
Indonesian Christians
Shopping malls in West Java are home to a number of Christian congregations
Empty shopping malls are eerie, and this one is no different.
But in the dim light of early morning, figures can be seen slipping past the security guards, their footsteps echoing down empty corridors.
It is Sunday morning, not yet 8 o'clock, and the shops are all still locked and shuttered.
But these people have not come to shop; they have come to pray.
Shopping malls in West Java are home to a growing number of Christian congregations. There are 10 in this mall alone.
Few of them want to talk publicly about why they are here, but off the record they admit it comes down to intimidation by Muslim groups.
According to Church groups more than 100 churches have faced attack or intimidation in the past two years.
Religion or rules?
One of the groups alleged to be behind some of these incidents is the FPI, or Islamic Defenders Front, a radical group that became a household name when it forced Playboy magazine out of Java.
FPI crew
Christians complain the FPI use threats to pressurise churches into closing
Church leaders allege the group's members are forcing churches to close through violence and intimidation.
Saipul Abdullah, the head of the FPI in this area, told me that there may be people at the grassroots level who react emotionally.
"They become very angry and frustrated and little eruptions can happen," he said.
"Maybe they'll tear down a sign, or shake some doors, or lock some doors, but they don't really have the right to do that."
But, he said, this was not about religion. It is about the fact that some churches are not playing by the rules.
Only 20% of the Churches in this province have an official permit to hold religious services.
It's not only about the permits, but about being Christian
Pastor Olbertina Modesta
To the others, often housed in temporary buildings, Saipul Abdullah and his group send letters asking for proof of their legal status.
If they get no response, he told me, they issue a warning letter, and then pass the matter on to the police.
To get an official permit, congregations must get 90 signatures of support from their non-Christian neighbours.
But in some areas, that is not easy to do.
Islamic stronghold
Pasundan Church has been holding services in a suburb of Bandung for more than 60 years.
But its pastor, Olbertina Modesta, says that whenever they try to collect the signatures they need to make the site official, no one wants to sign.
Indonesian Christians
Many Christians now feel too scared to hold major services in public places
West Java has a strong history of Islamic activism.
For decades it was a stronghold of the radical Islamic group Darul Islam, and many areas still retain preachers with hard-line views.
Last November, Pasundan church was attacked by a group of local Muslims.
They threw out the pews and prayer books, and smashed anything else they could - including the cross hanging on the wall.
But Pastor Olbertina doesn't believe this is simply a bureaucratic row.
"Sometimes I heard that the mosque is saying we are kaffirs, and we're not allowed to stay here," she told me.
"So that's why I believe it's not only about the permits, but about being Christian."
Police say no one has so far been arrested for the attack. Pastor Olbertina now holds her weekly service at a local hospital.
Shopping malls and hospitals don't have religious licences either, but they are a bit more secure.
And until congregations like hers can find a permanent home, it is where they will stay.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Punjab reaps a poisoned harvest
BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Punjab reaps a poisoned harvest
Punjab reaps a poisoned harvest
By David Loyn
BBC News, Punjab
The governments of many poor nations are alarmed at the rise in food prices. There are even problems in the Indian region of Punjab, where science once seemed to have found answers for a hungry world.
Wheat crops in India
The Green Revolution made the Punjab, India's richest farmland
The first thing Satpal Singh sees when he walks out of his bedroom door in the morning is a gleaming tractor, without a speck of mud on it.
It is given pride of place and washed down before being put away for the night in its garage built into the middle of his house.
This is a sign of the wealth that has made this the richest farmland in India.
In Mr Singh's front yard, half a dozen cows chew contentedly on a maize-based mix, processed in his own machine in the corner.
But behind this idyll serious questions are being asked about farming practices in Punjab, which have consequences for the looming crisis in world food supplies.
Pesticide fears
Before Mr Singh's father died young of cancer in 1992, none here suspected that the technology that had brought wealth to these farmlands in the 1970s might have a downside as well.
The new strains of seed and chemical pesticides and fertilisers, certainly brought high yields.
They called it the Green Revolution.
The benefit of high yields from new seed types was not long-lasting, and the pests kept ahead of the pesticide
But today the food the cows eat and the milk they produce, along with the water the cows and Mr Singh's family drink, all show high levels of pesticide residue.
As well as being a successful farmer, he works part-time as a health co-ordinator in the village.
He took me to meet a group of farmers, who all spoke of health problems and knew of deaths they believed came from the use of pesticide sprays.
No protection
The problem here, as in many other places in the world, is that the benefit of high yields from new seed types was not long-lasting, and the pests kept ahead of the pesticides.
An old man, suffering from cancer, told me that in recent years he has had to spray round the clock to keep the pests off his wheat.
Farm worker using pesticide
Chemicals and pesticides brought high yields
The sprays all have instructions demanding that they should only be used with face masks and protective clothing.
But the farm workers here do not use protective equipment, and they spray far more than the recommended amount.
The cause of cancer is always a contentious issue, but a new study from the Punjabi University at Patiala ruled out other potential factors like age, alcohol intake and smoking, concluding that the way the sprays are used is causing cancer.
Organic ignorance
The farmers told me that they wanted the same agricultural scientists who had given them the high yields of the 1970s to come up with something else.
They know that what they are doing now is unsustainable, because they are getting lower yields despite using more spray and paying more for fertiliser because of the high oil price.
None had heard of organic farming.
Punjab
In neighbouring Pakistan, the local TV news carries interviews every night from flour mills and farms, as well as a daily check on the market price of flour.
The police have intervened to stop hoarding.
Ration cards have been issued, and the World Food Programme (WFP) talks about a crisis as the number of people who do not have enough to eat has risen to 77 million, half of the population of Pakistan.
The WFP describes the food price rise as a "tsunami" affecting the poorest in the world and there are many poorer countries than Pakistan.
The political consequences are already apparent in the troubled regions of the North West Frontier, where the Taleban and al-Qaeda have significant support.
They are more easily able to recruit by saying the government is failing to make affordable food available.
And on the other side of the border on a recent trip to Afghanistan, I heard the US-led occupation squarely blamed on the streets of Kabul for the high price of food.
Radical solution
High oil prices, drought, over-intensive farming leading to lower yields, increased food demand in India and China and the loss of land to biofuels have all played their part in ending the long period of cheap food that the world has enjoyed for the past 30 years.
One radical solution now being talked about is direct payment of subsidies to farmers.
Until recently Malawi was dependent on food aid.
Farm worker sprays crops in Punjab
Farm workers should use protective clothing spraying crops
Back in 2002, I remember going from village to village, walking through fields where stunted maize plants had failed to grow.
Children climbed a tree to show me the tiny indigestible hard fruits which were all they had to eat.
At that time Malawi was one of a number of southern African nations at the centre of a worldwide appeal for aid.
When it introduced a voucher scheme to provide cheap fertiliser to farmers, the big donors opposed it.
Hunger victory
Memories of corruption and belief in economic orthodoxy that allowed the market to decide prices had given subsidies a bad name.
But now international donors are starting to change their minds and back the scheme.
Malawi has turned the corner, its farms are producing food for domestic consumption as well as for export, and few go hungry.
It is a stark contrast to the picture in 2002. And maybe an example some countries currently experiencing food shortages could follow.
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 26 April, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
Punjab reaps a poisoned harvest
By David Loyn
BBC News, Punjab
The governments of many poor nations are alarmed at the rise in food prices. There are even problems in the Indian region of Punjab, where science once seemed to have found answers for a hungry world.
Wheat crops in India
The Green Revolution made the Punjab, India's richest farmland
The first thing Satpal Singh sees when he walks out of his bedroom door in the morning is a gleaming tractor, without a speck of mud on it.
It is given pride of place and washed down before being put away for the night in its garage built into the middle of his house.
This is a sign of the wealth that has made this the richest farmland in India.
In Mr Singh's front yard, half a dozen cows chew contentedly on a maize-based mix, processed in his own machine in the corner.
But behind this idyll serious questions are being asked about farming practices in Punjab, which have consequences for the looming crisis in world food supplies.
Pesticide fears
Before Mr Singh's father died young of cancer in 1992, none here suspected that the technology that had brought wealth to these farmlands in the 1970s might have a downside as well.
The new strains of seed and chemical pesticides and fertilisers, certainly brought high yields.
They called it the Green Revolution.
The benefit of high yields from new seed types was not long-lasting, and the pests kept ahead of the pesticide
But today the food the cows eat and the milk they produce, along with the water the cows and Mr Singh's family drink, all show high levels of pesticide residue.
As well as being a successful farmer, he works part-time as a health co-ordinator in the village.
He took me to meet a group of farmers, who all spoke of health problems and knew of deaths they believed came from the use of pesticide sprays.
No protection
The problem here, as in many other places in the world, is that the benefit of high yields from new seed types was not long-lasting, and the pests kept ahead of the pesticides.
An old man, suffering from cancer, told me that in recent years he has had to spray round the clock to keep the pests off his wheat.
Farm worker using pesticide
Chemicals and pesticides brought high yields
The sprays all have instructions demanding that they should only be used with face masks and protective clothing.
But the farm workers here do not use protective equipment, and they spray far more than the recommended amount.
The cause of cancer is always a contentious issue, but a new study from the Punjabi University at Patiala ruled out other potential factors like age, alcohol intake and smoking, concluding that the way the sprays are used is causing cancer.
Organic ignorance
The farmers told me that they wanted the same agricultural scientists who had given them the high yields of the 1970s to come up with something else.
They know that what they are doing now is unsustainable, because they are getting lower yields despite using more spray and paying more for fertiliser because of the high oil price.
None had heard of organic farming.
Punjab
In neighbouring Pakistan, the local TV news carries interviews every night from flour mills and farms, as well as a daily check on the market price of flour.
The police have intervened to stop hoarding.
Ration cards have been issued, and the World Food Programme (WFP) talks about a crisis as the number of people who do not have enough to eat has risen to 77 million, half of the population of Pakistan.
The WFP describes the food price rise as a "tsunami" affecting the poorest in the world and there are many poorer countries than Pakistan.
The political consequences are already apparent in the troubled regions of the North West Frontier, where the Taleban and al-Qaeda have significant support.
They are more easily able to recruit by saying the government is failing to make affordable food available.
And on the other side of the border on a recent trip to Afghanistan, I heard the US-led occupation squarely blamed on the streets of Kabul for the high price of food.
Radical solution
High oil prices, drought, over-intensive farming leading to lower yields, increased food demand in India and China and the loss of land to biofuels have all played their part in ending the long period of cheap food that the world has enjoyed for the past 30 years.
One radical solution now being talked about is direct payment of subsidies to farmers.
Until recently Malawi was dependent on food aid.
Farm worker sprays crops in Punjab
Farm workers should use protective clothing spraying crops
Back in 2002, I remember going from village to village, walking through fields where stunted maize plants had failed to grow.
Children climbed a tree to show me the tiny indigestible hard fruits which were all they had to eat.
At that time Malawi was one of a number of southern African nations at the centre of a worldwide appeal for aid.
When it introduced a voucher scheme to provide cheap fertiliser to farmers, the big donors opposed it.
Hunger victory
Memories of corruption and belief in economic orthodoxy that allowed the market to decide prices had given subsidies a bad name.
But now international donors are starting to change their minds and back the scheme.
Malawi has turned the corner, its farms are producing food for domestic consumption as well as for export, and few go hungry.
It is a stark contrast to the picture in 2002. And maybe an example some countries currently experiencing food shortages could follow.
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 26 April, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
The Hindu : National : Indians have no genetic shield against HIV, says study
The Hindu : National : Indians have no genetic shield against HIV, says study
Indians have no genetic shield against HIV, says study
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: There is some bad news on the HIV-AIDS front. A multi-institutional nationwide study of the genetic landscape of people of the country conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has revealed that a known protective genetic marker against HIV-1 sub-type is virtually absent in the country. In other words, the people in the country are bereft of any natural or genetic protection against HIV-AIDS.
The study, which involved scientists and researchers drawn from six CSIR laboratories as well as experts at the Indian Statistical Institute and anthropologists from several institutions, has also revealed that vegetarians among north Indians are at a high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, if they also had low levels of vitamin B12.
Releasing the findings on Friday, Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said studies with regard to other diseases were under way.
The results would be available in due course. The other diseases under study include diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, cancer, parkinsonism, chronic pancreatitis, malaria, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa.
Better management
A major aim of the project is to make predictions of both diseases as also the effectiveness of specific drugs used for various diseases.
A pilot pharmacogenomic study on response to salbutamol, which is used for treatment of asthma, has, for instance, identified genetic markers in a receptor gene, which could classify individuals as poor and good responders. This kind of findings could help in better management of diseases.
A large number of projects would be undertaken during the eleventh plan period that would aim at using the data for predictive marker discovery and pharmacogenomics, he added. The study, which began in 2003, has generated genetic information on over 4,000 genetic markers from over 1,000 bio-medically important and pharmaco-genetically relevant genes.
Indians have no genetic shield against HIV, says study
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: There is some bad news on the HIV-AIDS front. A multi-institutional nationwide study of the genetic landscape of people of the country conducted by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has revealed that a known protective genetic marker against HIV-1 sub-type is virtually absent in the country. In other words, the people in the country are bereft of any natural or genetic protection against HIV-AIDS.
The study, which involved scientists and researchers drawn from six CSIR laboratories as well as experts at the Indian Statistical Institute and anthropologists from several institutions, has also revealed that vegetarians among north Indians are at a high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, if they also had low levels of vitamin B12.
Releasing the findings on Friday, Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said studies with regard to other diseases were under way.
The results would be available in due course. The other diseases under study include diabetes, asthma, epilepsy, cancer, parkinsonism, chronic pancreatitis, malaria, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa.
Better management
A major aim of the project is to make predictions of both diseases as also the effectiveness of specific drugs used for various diseases.
A pilot pharmacogenomic study on response to salbutamol, which is used for treatment of asthma, has, for instance, identified genetic markers in a receptor gene, which could classify individuals as poor and good responders. This kind of findings could help in better management of diseases.
A large number of projects would be undertaken during the eleventh plan period that would aim at using the data for predictive marker discovery and pharmacogenomics, he added. The study, which began in 2003, has generated genetic information on over 4,000 genetic markers from over 1,000 bio-medically important and pharmaco-genetically relevant genes.
Friday, April 18, 2008
West Bengal suspends private Kolkata-Dhaka bus service - Yahoo! India News
West Bengal suspends private Kolkata-Dhaka bus service - Yahoo! India News
West Bengal suspends private Kolkata-Dhaka bus service
Fri, Apr 18 09:34 AM
Kolkata, April 18 (IANS) Authorities in West Bengal have ordered the suspension of the only private bus service between Kolkata and Dhaka because the operator's permit has run out. But the operator does not agree and is continuing the daily run between the two countries.
The West Bengal Surface Transport Corp Ltd (WBSTCL) ordered the suspension of the Souharda service April 10 pending the appointment of a new franchisee.
'The WBSTCL has decided to change its franchisee,' Sumantra Chowdhury, the state transport department's additional chief secretary, told IANS.
'The June 16, 1999, agreement with Kolkata's Basanti Tours and Travels Pvt Ltd (BTTPL) expired April 9,' Chowdhury said.
He said the private tour operator had failed to renew its carriage permit since 2003 despite repeated reminders.
'We even extended the agreement to 2008. Now, we are left with no option but to temporarily withdraw the service till we get a new franchisee,' Chowdhury said.
However, the tour operator flouted the WBSTCL order and carried over 80 passengers Wednesday to Dhaka.
Chowdhury said the tour operator could be penalised.
But BTTPL managing director Taraknath Ghosh said: 'We have documents that prove the state transport department has permitted us to operate the services till 2009.
'We shall not withdraw our services and if required we shall challenge the government move in the court.'
Since July 16, 1999, two luxury buses of the operator run daily between Salt Lake in northeastern Kolkata and the Dhaka central bus depot.
As per the agreement, the operator paid a royalty of Rs.62,500 per month to the state government for operating the service on this international sector.
The Kolkata-Dhaka bus service has proved to be a lifeline between the two neighbouring countries for the past nine years. Every day it ferries around 150 passengers across the international border.
Interestingly, despite the Kolkata-Dhaka Moitree Express train resuming services Monday, the Souharda service has not lost popularity.
'Even on Tuesday we had about 100 passengers. The price of ticket is Rs.1,090, higher than the cost of train tickets. But travelling by bus does not involve immigration problems at the border. Besides, the arrival and departure timings are very convenient,' Ghosh said.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Sankara Takes You On An Unusual Pilgrimage-Speaking Tree-Opinion-The Times of India
Sankara Takes You On An Unusual Pilgrimage-Speaking Tree-Opinion-The Times of India
Unusual Pilgrimage
16 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST
,Pranav Khullar
16 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST
,Pranav Khullar
| ||||||||||||||||||||
In the Brahmn-Sutra Bhashya, Sankara says: "Brahmn alone is real, the world is illusory. The individual and the universal soul are One". Using everyday references to illustrate abstract advaitic concepts, Sankara begins by stating that the Atmabodha will serve as a primer for those who wish to experience liberation, equipped with the tools of discernment. The second declares that knowledge alone can be the cause of liberation, just as fire is the direct cause of cooking. This may include the requirement of water, pots and pans but it is essentially fire that makes cooking possible. Sankara saya that karma or action is powerless to destroy ignorance for "...it is not in conflict with ignorance". The Self can be known only through knowledge, just as light alone can dispel darkness. He compares jnana abhyasa or the practice of knowledge which purifies by removing ignorance, with the traditional method of purifying muddy water in rural India with kataka-nut powder. Just as the powder sprinkled on the surface of the water forms a film and drags all the impurities to the bottom, leaving pure water on the surface, constant use and practice of knowledge removes the dirt of ignorance. And just as the kataka-nut powder dissolves in the water after doing its work, knowledge too disappears after the Self emerges. Sankara uses the example of the illusion created by oyster shells scattered along the beach on a moonlit night. We mistake them for silver, only till we recognise the reality of the oyster shells. Similarly, the world of names and forms exists only till self-knowledge dawns. The phenomenal world exists in the mind of the perceiver alone, and names and forms exist like ornaments. Vishnu, the all-pervading consciousness, is like gold. Sankara reinforces the spirit and content of the Upanishads by alluding to the Mahavakyas, in his delineation of the nature of Brahmn, reiterating the well-known method of arriving at the definition of Brahmn, through the process of elimination "...neti, neti...not this, not this". Meditation is essential to refocus on the Self. The flame of knowledge can only be kindled by constant meditation, Sankara compares this to the act of rubbing two pieces of wood together to create fire. Meditation is the friction between the mind-wood and the Om-wood pieces. The story of Rama is allegorised as Atmarama, who derives satisfaction from the Self alone, having crossed the ocean of delusion to vanquish the creatures of passion, just as Rama crossed the ocean to kill Ravana. In the concluding verses Sankara seems to speak from a meditative trance, as he alludes to the nature of Brahmn - sat-chit-ananda or knowledge-existence-bliss. These verses reflect the cosmic nature of his thought. He says, "...all things which can be perceived or heard, are Brahmn itself and nothing else...and though atma is reality, it can be perceived only by the one who has the eye of wisdom". Sankara asks us to undertake the real pilgrimage to "the shrine of the atma", which will bestow upon us real equanimity. The Atmabodha, like its companion-piece the Vivekachudamani, is a call from the heart. It reflects Sankara’s attempt to reach out to not only the intelligentsia of his time. It conveys the profound, yet simple philosophy of Oneness to anyone who is curious to know more about the nature of consciousness and the path to liberation. It is a pilgrimage of the mind. http://spirituality.indiatimes.com |
Transform Your Life By Becoming More Aware-Speaking Tree-Opinion-The Times of India
Transform Your Life By Becoming More Aware-Speaking Tree-Opinion-The Times of India
Transform Your Life By Becoming More Aware
17 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST,Swami Sukhabodhananda
17 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST
,Swami Sukhabodhananda
| ||||||||||||||||||||
A man with eight doctorate degrees met a monk. He was proud of his achievement. The monk asked him: "Why have you been so foolish in life?" The man said, "But... you don’t understand! I have eight PhDs". The monk
said: "I have understood you; it is foolish to spend the best part of life reading instead of enjoying the birds, the stars and the moon".
One may have all the know-ledge but not clarity. One may know a lot and yet understand nothing. There is a difference between knowing and understanding.
Not knowing the difference between understanding and knowing leads to confusion. You have many centres: intellectual, emotional and physical. In each there is a mechanical and magnetic part. The mechanical part acts like a machine while the magnetic part acts with more awareness. You have to transform yourself. Your mechanical movements and thinking have to change. One’s mechanical likes and dislikes have to change, too. Mechanical emotions like jealousy and hatred have to be transformed. You can do this by bringing in more awareness.
There is no greater force than awareness. When one increases awareness, even poison can turn into medicine and with no awareness a medicine can become poison. A king dreamt that he was a beggar. In his dream his guru told him the truth that he was a king and not a beggar. Now was he to argue with his guru or just wake up?
Bring in more awareness and see the transformation of life. Even inert objects have life. With loving awareness treat any object and it will guide you mysteriously. Your intuition and purity have to increase to receive this message.
What are the differences between a pair of eyes and a camera? If capturing an image is the purpose of the eyes, then a camera will do. Eyes are meant to see beyond forms, like a sculptor sees an idol in a stone. So too, eyes are meant to see the divine. A rela-tionship is meant to see the truth.
There are differences in a rela-tionship. Give importance to your love and commitment, to your commonality, enjoy your relation-ship. Keep yourself relaxed.
Increase your awareness and love. Let there be choice. 'Should’ creates stress and limits you to only one option. Choose not to judge. It is not a demand but a wise choice.
The danger of judgment is that you stop seeing the object of judgment and you are more in your judgment. In life, you have to make judgments, but don’t be a victim of your judgments. Suppose, a thief enters your house, you have to judge him but then, be open to the possibility that he can change.
Assume, you meet him after 10 years, see if he has changed or not. Do you still judge from the memory that he had been a thief? If you do not have this awareness, you will not see the change in a person even if he has changed.
Like you avoid poisonous food, avoid negative emotions. Like how you are very alert when you see a poisonous snake, be very aware and alert of negative emotions. Let them come, don’t identify with them. Don’t participate.
They deplete your energy. They keep you asleep. They are harmful and heavy. They make your life complicated. We define our failure by somebody’s success. We feel jealous seeing someone successful.
If you go on comparing, life becomes miserable. If somebody is better than you, learn from them; enjoy others’ success. No one can have all good qualities. Someone will always be better than you at some level. Do not whip yourself with this comparison. Instead get inspired by someone’s success. Even if you compete with others, enjoy it. See the beauty all around.
http://spirituality.indiatimes.com
said: "I have understood you; it is foolish to spend the best part of life reading instead of enjoying the birds, the stars and the moon".
One may have all the know-ledge but not clarity. One may know a lot and yet understand nothing. There is a difference between knowing and understanding.
Not knowing the difference between understanding and knowing leads to confusion. You have many centres: intellectual, emotional and physical. In each there is a mechanical and magnetic part. The mechanical part acts like a machine while the magnetic part acts with more awareness. You have to transform yourself. Your mechanical movements and thinking have to change. One’s mechanical likes and dislikes have to change, too. Mechanical emotions like jealousy and hatred have to be transformed. You can do this by bringing in more awareness.
There is no greater force than awareness. When one increases awareness, even poison can turn into medicine and with no awareness a medicine can become poison. A king dreamt that he was a beggar. In his dream his guru told him the truth that he was a king and not a beggar. Now was he to argue with his guru or just wake up?
Bring in more awareness and see the transformation of life. Even inert objects have life. With loving awareness treat any object and it will guide you mysteriously. Your intuition and purity have to increase to receive this message.
What are the differences between a pair of eyes and a camera? If capturing an image is the purpose of the eyes, then a camera will do. Eyes are meant to see beyond forms, like a sculptor sees an idol in a stone. So too, eyes are meant to see the divine. A rela-tionship is meant to see the truth.
There are differences in a rela-tionship. Give importance to your love and commitment, to your commonality, enjoy your relation-ship. Keep yourself relaxed.
Increase your awareness and love. Let there be choice. 'Should’ creates stress and limits you to only one option. Choose not to judge. It is not a demand but a wise choice.
The danger of judgment is that you stop seeing the object of judgment and you are more in your judgment. In life, you have to make judgments, but don’t be a victim of your judgments. Suppose, a thief enters your house, you have to judge him but then, be open to the possibility that he can change.
Assume, you meet him after 10 years, see if he has changed or not. Do you still judge from the memory that he had been a thief? If you do not have this awareness, you will not see the change in a person even if he has changed.
Like you avoid poisonous food, avoid negative emotions. Like how you are very alert when you see a poisonous snake, be very aware and alert of negative emotions. Let them come, don’t identify with them. Don’t participate.
They deplete your energy. They keep you asleep. They are harmful and heavy. They make your life complicated. We define our failure by somebody’s success. We feel jealous seeing someone successful.
If you go on comparing, life becomes miserable. If somebody is better than you, learn from them; enjoy others’ success. No one can have all good qualities. Someone will always be better than you at some level. Do not whip yourself with this comparison. Instead get inspired by someone’s success. Even if you compete with others, enjoy it. See the beauty all around.
http://spirituality.indiatimes.com
A Healthy Mind Promotes Physical Wellness Too-Speaking Tree-Opinion-The Times of India
A Healthy Mind Promotes Physical Wellness Too-Speaking Tree-Opinion-The Times of India
A Healthy Mind Promotes Physical Wellness Too
18 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST,Acharya Mahaprajna
18 Apr 2008, 0000 hrs IST
,Acharya Mahaprajna
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Mental health promotes physical health. The reverse is also true. The mind and the body are two mutually connected entities. However, the mind’s influence on the body is deeper than that of the body on the mind. Mental health is connected with the feeling of equality. Without this feeling the mind cannot be healthy. The principle of equality is also the principle of mental health.
The first principle of mental health is: Know thyself. One who does not know his own strength and weakness cannot be mentally healthy. We do not know our strength because we are weak and we feel a sense of being wretched. We become excited when somebody misbehaves with us because we do not know our weakness. In such cases we overlook ourselves and try to find fault with others.
The second principle of mental health is the willingness to admit one’s responsibility for whatever has been done. We are not prepared to visualise the consequences of our actions and that is why our mind has no peace. It is unhealthy to avoid responsibility for our actions. It can lead to mental illness. One needs courage to admit his faults. A weak mind does not have this courage.
One should take responsibility for the good as well as bad consequences of one’s actions. It is the weak who find fault with others. They want to save their own skin. We generally like to be praised for our good actions but are not prepared to be blamed for the bad consequences of our actions.
Devotion to truth is the third principle of mental health. Truth is experience of the law governing the universe. Death is a universal law. It has no exception. All the prophets and great men of the world met death. Nobody is immortal. Everyone who is born must die one day. Death is, therefore, a truth. In the same way karma (action) and tela (time) are also truths. One who admits the operation of the laws, which govern nature, is a mentally healthy man.
Tolerance is the fourth principle of mental health. An intolerant man is always miserable. Moreover, the behaviour of an intolerant man is always unpredictable. If an intolerant man is meditating and if the fan is stopped, his mind will be upset and his meditation will break.
He who commands tolerance is indifferent to losses and gains. Wealth and riches are not lasting. Heat and cold, comfort and pain and convenience and inconvenience do not affect the tolerant man. They affect those who do not possess the requisite strength to face them. Those who have been born and brought up in the midst of difficulties and privations ultimately develop in themselves the spirit of tolerance.
The fifth principle of mental health is that we should present ourselves as we are. We should not put up appearances. Generally people are snobs in their social life and when people see them in their true colours they are put in a quandary. Secretiveness creates ill feelings.
Those who put up appearances not only deceive others, they deceive themselves also. They create difficulties for all. We try to create false impressions on the minds of others in order to hide our own real state. You cannot hide reality for a long time. Only he whose mind is weak tries to hide facts. On the other hand he whose mind is strong and sound will always present himself as he is.
(As told to Lalit Garg.)
The first principle of mental health is: Know thyself. One who does not know his own strength and weakness cannot be mentally healthy. We do not know our strength because we are weak and we feel a sense of being wretched. We become excited when somebody misbehaves with us because we do not know our weakness. In such cases we overlook ourselves and try to find fault with others.
The second principle of mental health is the willingness to admit one’s responsibility for whatever has been done. We are not prepared to visualise the consequences of our actions and that is why our mind has no peace. It is unhealthy to avoid responsibility for our actions. It can lead to mental illness. One needs courage to admit his faults. A weak mind does not have this courage.
One should take responsibility for the good as well as bad consequences of one’s actions. It is the weak who find fault with others. They want to save their own skin. We generally like to be praised for our good actions but are not prepared to be blamed for the bad consequences of our actions.
Devotion to truth is the third principle of mental health. Truth is experience of the law governing the universe. Death is a universal law. It has no exception. All the prophets and great men of the world met death. Nobody is immortal. Everyone who is born must die one day. Death is, therefore, a truth. In the same way karma (action) and tela (time) are also truths. One who admits the operation of the laws, which govern nature, is a mentally healthy man.
Tolerance is the fourth principle of mental health. An intolerant man is always miserable. Moreover, the behaviour of an intolerant man is always unpredictable. If an intolerant man is meditating and if the fan is stopped, his mind will be upset and his meditation will break.
He who commands tolerance is indifferent to losses and gains. Wealth and riches are not lasting. Heat and cold, comfort and pain and convenience and inconvenience do not affect the tolerant man. They affect those who do not possess the requisite strength to face them. Those who have been born and brought up in the midst of difficulties and privations ultimately develop in themselves the spirit of tolerance.
The fifth principle of mental health is that we should present ourselves as we are. We should not put up appearances. Generally people are snobs in their social life and when people see them in their true colours they are put in a quandary. Secretiveness creates ill feelings.
Those who put up appearances not only deceive others, they deceive themselves also. They create difficulties for all. We try to create false impressions on the minds of others in order to hide our own real state. You cannot hide reality for a long time. Only he whose mind is weak tries to hide facts. On the other hand he whose mind is strong and sound will always present himself as he is.
(As told to Lalit Garg.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
