Tree Plantation Drive by YES!+: June 5, 2010

When Art of Living Bangalore's YES!+ team took charge in different parts of city, with AoL teachers, BBMP, and other responsible organizations like Vee Technnologies, the outcome was more than 100 new trees in a few hours, across parks!

FAQ: On an average, a human being utilizes resources of 16 trees in a lifetime.

Have you adopted your tree yet? :-)

Contact your Art of Living city coordinator and get started now.

www.artofliving.org

JUNE 5, 2010: 2,00,000 TREES FOR BANGALORE! JOIN US

Do you feel the pinch of the Bangalore heat every time you step out of the air conditioned office?

Does the unusual summer heat play spoilsport every time you step out for coffee?

Is your doctor telling you to stay away from the dust and the heat?

If you feel the guilt that Bangalore’s world famous air conditioned climate may soon be a thing of the past, let’s do something about it.

Shall we get together and give the summer of 2011 something to look forward to? More greenery, more spring flowers, more coolness quotient to namma Bengaluru.

I know its been on your mind for long, and it has been on my mind too, and as we both waited for someone to initiate a project for TREE PLANTATION AND ADOPTION, the climate went from bad to worse.

The Art of Living International Foundation has joined hands with the BBMP to paint Bangalore city green this JUNE 5^th.

Mark this day on your calendars, apply for leaves from offices, even better: involve your teams, your company, and let’s do our part that was pending since long.

Our sankalpa is for 200,000 saplings across Bangalore.

Send me (gauravnath.vision@gmail.com) your name with phone number and email ID.

If you belong to the corporate circle, and wish to see your company involve as a strong Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drive, send us the contact information of your HR or CSR Head.

Let’s get started RIGHT NOW.

p.s. (An average human uses the resources of 16 trees in a lifetime. Can we plant at least 17 ?)

Smokers will find this very useful information

ONE REQUEST: Its your life, please put it into perspective. And please enrich it with life-supporting habits, give back to the planet more life, not more smoke and disease.
Please.

Love,
Gaurav

What is killing India?

What is killing India?

Peep into this post and give yourself a weekend reality check....

·         Pesticides and fertilizers- India is the world’s largest user of fertilizers and pesticides. Look at Bangalore: sparrows have dwindled, no doubt. But now, even the crows say No to the city.

India has been the country with the most advanced forms of irrigation and most holistic way of agriculture. Ancient Indian agriculture systems like the Vedic Farming alone, yields far more superior crops, fruits and vegetables, than any damned fertilizer or pesticides any scientist can create…and without the damage that is caused by fertilizers and pesticides.

What happened after Independence?? “Independence"?...where’s the Independence?

·         Genetic Engineering- Just the south of India alone grows 150 varieties of rice! The smart way of agriculture is to grow different crops at different times on same soil…one type of crop enriches the soil for the next different type of crop to grow, thus allowing the soil to recuperate.

…But GM crops turn the agricultural soil sterile, and do not allow other crops to grow. This destroys the precious earth and leaves the farmers and the government defenseless at mercy of patenting laws. Patenting laws prevent farmers from saving crops.

·         Plastic:  Who invented the damned plastic?  The world lived just as comfortably before plastic was invented.

·         Bureaucrats: In terms of education quotient, politicians share the lesser blame compared to the so-called educated bureaucrats who are sucking up India and using politicians as pawn. If you feel responsible towards your country, what can you do? Write your Civil Services exam, become a responsible IAS officer. And while you are doing that, come to an Art Of Living workshop, tap enormous personal energy levels and broaden your capacity to take responsibility for yourself and for this planet.

·         Education: We have enough unemployable, and poorly conditioned lawyers, engineers and doctors in this country: we don’t want anymore! We need our ancient system of education back which the British systematically wiped out, so that they could fuel religious feuds, misconstrue the caste system, train Indians as lab rats who learn the following plagiarisms:

o   Galileo discovered that the Earth goes round the Sun’s orbit. (WRONG)

o   Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity. (WRONG)

o   Pythagoras discovered (a+b)² = a² + b² + 2ab. (WRONG)

o   Oppenheimer discovered the atomic bomb. (WRONG)

o   Drs. Steptoe and Edwards invented artificial insemination. (WRONG)

o   Archimedes of Syracuse discovered the value of “Pi”. (WRONG)

o   …I could go on and on.

All of the above and more were inventions or discoveries already made by ancient Indian scientists who were also spiritually enlightened meditators...such is the magnanimity of the world's grandest and most prosperous ("prosperous" in all senses) civilizations.

The bottom line is, our real Indian education system of Gurukul was systematically stolen by the English centuries ago, and plagiarized to form the Catholic system of modern education, and enforced upon us and the rest of the world during their colonization conquests.

·         English medicine (alopathy): Given the plethora of negative side-effects on the body and continual abuse of environmental resources, pharma companies have no real claims to philanthropy, except that English medicines come handy only in emergency situations when it is ok to pop a pill. Some facts here for Indian consumers.

You thought painkillers were a fantastic invention? Wrong! Painkillers dilute the nervous system’s ability to experience real pain in the pain areas of body. It simply postpones the cause of the disease.

You thought anti-depressants are the best boon to mankind?

Wrong! Anti-depressants (...and psychiatrists) only postpone chronic depression to a later time, and this only snowballs into worse depression and suicidal/homophobic tendencies. What’s the solution? No brownie points for guessing: It is MEDITATION.

If you are stressed or depressed, Sudarshan Kriya Yoga alone can solve the problem. If you are not stressed or depressed, Sudarshan Kriya Yoga alone can give you that extra energy burst (with heightened awareness) to do more in less time, at work or at home.

You thought alopathy cures the disease?

No! Alopathy in most cases treats just the SYMPTOMS, not the root cause. :-(

What’s  the cure?

Meditation and ayurveda.

Ayurveda attacks the CAUSE behind a disease, not the symptoms. And with zero side-effects…zero environment footprints.

And Panchkarma treatment ensures that diseases cannot touch your subtle body (that’s where diseases start incubating)

I couldn’t have found a better explanation of disease and health:

"Dis-ease occurs when any level of our existence is not at ease. Health is a disease-free body, a quiver-free breath, a stress-free mind, illusion-free intellect and obsession-free memory, an ego that includes all and a soul that is free from sorrow." – Sri Sri

·         Computer Games: This doesn’t need elaboration. We all know what it has done to whole generations of kids and teenagers across the globe! some facts

·         Junk Food: Carbonated drinks drain the body’s precious calcium and weaken digestion. Junk fast food: we all know what it does. I am amused that all we took from the west was coke and burgers, whereas in fact, we have much more to learn:

ü  Team work from the Japanese

ü  Precision from the Germans

ü  Presentation and marketing from the Americans

ü  Frankness and warmth from the Africans

ü  Etiquette and manners from the British

ü  Human and spiritual values from the Indians.

...choose a healthy lifestyle. Life is about living, and living is an art. ;-)

The Master is a Garbage Collector for the World

I am You, You are Me.

Tyre Art....whatz thatt?

For every problem which the majority of mankind produces, creativity always walks a step ahead and solves it...for the some of us who have always wondered what to do with old worn-out tyres, here is someone who produces brilliant pieces of art, that steps out of the garage and right into your living room.

Don't wanna smoke anymore?

Here is the most effective program in the world that EFFORTLESSLY empowers you to kick this dangerous addiction...

Stop Minister Chavan from poisoning our food

RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD?

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION

http://greenpeace.in/safefood/chavan-petition/

The Story of Cap and Trade

Love our planet?
                              
                             Want to do something?

                                                                 Seen the Story Of Stuff?

NOW Watch the Story of Cap and Trade

http://www.storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/

And after you watch it, come and enrol for the next YES!+ workshop in your town. Because, naturally, you'll want to do something about it, and something practical and worthwhile for this planet of ours and its beautiful people. YES!+ empowers you first, and gives you the platform for REAL social change.

And if you are just an IT pro, too busy ONLY accumulating monies for "the 3BHK and the family car" target within ten years, then forget about it.

If you are an IT pro who does his/her job well...and wants to do more for the planet and the future of this world TOO, then jump on board. :-)

Don't miss the flight to your inner self, and outer change. Come and be the change!

...oh btw, it also includes a 3BHK, family car, family care too...and more...@ the right time ;-)

BT BRINJAL IS HARMFUL...WHY???

Sometimes, I reiterate over the reason why I keep a blog, and post my thoughts and share it...one of the definite reasons is, social responsibility, and an inner urge to share the best things (with universal appeal) I have experienced in life with people I know and with people I dont know yet...

Along the way, I am confident I shall catalyze some positive change for many many good people in this planet, and for the not-so-good people too...

One such issue is certainly the unfair controversy over BT BRINJAL...whereas the facts are clear:

BT BRINJAL IS HARMFUL!

One doesn't need a ph.D in Biochemistry or Genetic Engineering to decipher this simple fact. In fact most ph.D. holders who support Genetically-Engineered (GE) food, have done enough harm already...by upholding "progress for progress's sake" and downplaying the long-term ethical murder that BT BRINJAL (and others, in the pipeline) bring upon farmers, the environment (air, water, land), and millions of consumers who may (God forbid!) consume potential carcinogen in form of BT BRINJAL!

I call GM food a hazardous stunt show, by politicians and Monsanto-species.

Let's uncomplicate.

Certainly, BT COTTON proved half the point with miserable failure, and complications.

No doubt farmers had a great crop for a season, and then the eco-system crashed...

• soil was depleted of its capacity to grow other forms of crops!
• further tests showed BT COTTON caused liver malfunction, skin allergies, and even carcinogen properties
• In fact, GM food can also cause unknown mutations to the consumer or to the future generations, at any point of life...It like having dormant HIV which can appear at any time...
• And the biggest flaw is that INSUFFICIENT tests were performed on BT COTTON before approving it.

Question: Who conducted the tests?

Yes, you are right...the same guys who approved it, the very corporates who created it.

We don't want human rights crushed in this bureaucrat game and political monopoly...we don't want farmer suicides...we don't want our earth to turn sterile.

And today, BT BRINJAL is contending to enter India, and through whom? The Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh!

The facts are clear, the experts have conducted 5-6 tests only! and they concluded it is safe...I didnt know we have such dishonest and conscience-less scientists too, who compromise on the ethics of their work, at the risk of health of millions of people, flora and fauna.

How can we even blame them?

These are the scientists who were taught the "BENEFITS" of GM food, not the negative ramifications, in their college. These are the very scientists who actually work for the companies that invent, produce and market GM food!

These organizations manipulate the tests, bribe their way past the regulatory hurdles, and promote themselves through the greedy pockets of the same government that WE elect! Very smart selling strategy, but it doesnt stop at that...

...have you heard of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)? This very IPR also protects these organizations, and gives them the farm to sue, and even grab the lands from the farmers who "dare" to save their own crops. Why? because IPR laws protect the interests of the one who holds the patent! In this case, it is MONSANTO and MAHYCO.

I am sure we all have got the picture here.

Remember the last meal you had? Breakfast...lunch...or dinner? you know the vegetables/fruits were bought at the market...you also know in India, there is NO LABELING of vegetables.

By "labeling" I mean, the footprint of the vegetable/fruit that you buy...where was it grown? was it exposed to fertilizers & pesticides? If yes, which fertilizers & pesticides? was it grown under organic conditions? If not, what is the level of toxicity it contains?

NOTHING! We are told nothing, and made to consume food with invisible footprints, the same way that your pet dog or a cow unquestioningly eats the food you give it!

"There is no law fixing liability in the event of contamination of non-Bt brinjal by the GM variety."

As consumers we think we monopolize the trend? WRONG! We may decide what fashion wear or movie should reach our wardrobes and bookshelves, but we are compromised on the most essential products-- our food system.

I ask Jairam Ramesh, did he put a labeling mechanism in place, before deciding to even encourage talks with GM companies? No he didn't. I am asking you, did you cast your vote in the last elections?

No? Then I am sorry you do not have a say in the government's affairs.

My friends, Europe including Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Greece, Denmark, Ireland has banned GM food, half of Brazil has done so too. In fact some of them have banned Monsanto completely, and Nestle (yes sir, they also inject GM ingredients into popular food products like Cerelac, Maggi noodles, Munch and Kitkat chocolates etc)!

I am sure we Indians are not cuckoos, or perhaps some politicians are...and greedy cuckoos at that too.

Have you decided to vote yet, now?

Perhaps we can start with a signature campaign.

You don't want your girl friend/boy friend/wife/husband, or mother or father or siblings (sisters, brothers)...anyone you love or care about developing an irreversible disease because one day when you had a chance, and you knew, still you didn't act...

I love myself, and I love my family...my extended family is you too.

And that is why I just made you aware of what's coming, if you and me don't do something right, right now.

For your knowledge:


http://balkrishnapatankar.wordpress.com/2009/10/18/say-no-to-gm-foods-gm-food-can-cause-the-biggest-health-crisis/


http://www.zeenews.com/news602829.html


http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_to-eat-or-not-to-eat-bt-brinjal_1341691

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/cons-products/food/Bt-Brinjal-should-not-be-allowed-Scientists-to-India/articleshow/5525271.cms

How Toxic Are You?

I remember...

...Channel 4 undertaking a bold move into highlighting the long-term health damage from excessive use of parabens, soidum laureth sulfate and triclosan in skin care and beauty products...tis includes shampoos, skin creams and lotions.

I thought it would be interesting to expose a few facts about the unending array of better-sounding, better-looking personal products that irresponsible, greedy manufacturers stuff inside and on bodies of gullible consumers like you and me...

Let's look at the popular shampoos sold and used in India, and endorsed through our favorite celebrities:

Get the facts right:

Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Ethyl Sulfate (SLES) are skin and eye irritants.

Found in household cleaning products, shampoos, shower gels, bubble-baths.

Articles over the internet that tell you otherwise, are secondary research information that are outdated and conducted 5-10 years ago. Read them with a pinch of salt

The following favorite shampoos most of us use day in and day out, contain SLS or SLES:

Jennifer Aniston endorses Garnier Fructis internationally

... and Jennifer Penty does it for India

John Abraham endorses Clinic All Clear

...Maria Menounos endorses Pantene ProV

In India, shampoo brands bank on a sizeable share of their profits to celebrities like Kareena Kapoor, Sushmita Sen and Priyanka Chopra...this is what the Hindu Business Line managed to dig out: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/11/08/stories/2008110850761800.htm

Given the mass influence that popular actors have upon the youth...it is dicey for them to jump on the advertisement bandwagon without a little background research on their endorsements...I am certain, as consumers who are used to such intoxicating fragrant shampoos, we either overlook most facts (maybe even now, your mind is saying, "yes, yes", or a "no, no"), or we act helpless with statements like, "Oh! but the market is flooded with such products, what options do we have?"

If that question arose from a space of sincerity for a healthier lifestyle upgradation, then I have a small tip for you...

When did you last walk into the Baidyanath ayurvedic store next door? You will be amazed and so was I, at the richness of the products Ayurveda has to offer!! Fragrant shampoos which do not contain toxins, hair wash gels that are extracted by natural means from organic fruits and herbs, and formulations that were made from ancient ayurvedic compositions (that are still a rage after around 20 millenniums!)...it's easy to fall in love with the organic soaps and ayurvedic hair washes that are pure, natural, holistic, and make us proud and educated eco-conscious consumers.

If you are a step ahead in ~>*narcissism*<~ ...you may use the Trichup brand products, Bhringaraj hair powder available at Bodhi Tree and Herbal Remedies. Alternately, Shikakai Powder has been an enduring trusted hair wash since the days of our grand mothers and grand fathers...

personally, i LOVE the body and hair care products offered at Sri Sri Ayurveda personal care products shops online and offline...you'll find lots of first-hand testimonials of people who use and love its products...

Love yourself, Go ayurvedic...be natural...let our planet breathe easy!

...Oh btw, this is how split-ends of a human hair look like....UNDER THE MICROSCOPE... ouchhh!

Question for 2010 ?

The Sun is the source of all the Earth's energy. This is important because one day we're going to get the bill. (Tom Weller)

WHO WILL SPEAK FOR PLANET EARTH?