Food-medicine adulteration

Hare Krishna!
A few information more about the subject;
The medicines are sold over the counter with no mention on the label of
these ingredients, which is illegal.
"Ayurvedic medicines have their own way of working and allopathic medicines
work differently. Their combination can ruin the body," Dr Preeti Chhabra,
an ayurvedic doctor.
Moreover, cosmetics like kajal, lipstick, shampoos, talcum powder and hair
colour are adulterated with heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cobalt and
nickel. Toothpaste Vicco and Dabur Red were found to be adulterated with
tobacco or nicotine, which can lead to cancer.
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For a majority of people, food adulteration is often  linked with the
impurities found in grains and to the food sold through the public
distribution system (PDS). It is a well established fact that even people
with Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards, who are entitled to buy food through
the PDS, avoid buying items like rice, if they can afford it, as it is
sometimes infested with insects and stones.
For those of us, who buy our daily groceries from retail stores, the
packaged food has the psychological comfort of being clean. But that is not
always the case. Consumers are often not aware of the kind of adulteration
that is present in pre-packaged food and food that is categorised as
'loose'. That is, food that is sold without any branding or packaging.
Says Y G Muralidhar, a consumer rights activist, "Most people tend to think
of adulteration as contaminant in food. But any food that is at a sub
standard level, that is below the standards set, but not necessarily harmful
or below the nutritional value promised is adulteration,"
Practically, all items sold independently, without any branding is subject
to some level of adulteration and not with something outrightly harmful, but
falling short of the standards all the same. Ghee and butter is adulterated
with margarine, potato starch and vanaspathi. Edible oils are mixed with
castor oil and argemone (prickly poppy) oil, sugar with chalk powder and
honey with sugar syrup.
Colouring is another common phenomenon with hotel foods, especially North
Indian dishes and roadside foods like Gobi Manchurian. Metanil yellow, a
food colour is added to parboiled rice, dal, and turmeric. Chemicals are
added to seedless dates to make them soft.
Even a common South Indian household item like jaggery is not spared. "I
never realised that jaggery in its pure form is almost black in colour. It
was only after a cook pointed out that it is full of chemicals, that I
realised that the golden yellow is not its actual colour." says Jyothi, a
teacher who found a cook to make jaggery without the additives.
Jaggery is prepared using additives like sodium bicarbonate, sodium
hydrosulfite and sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate. In addition, organic
additives like castor and coconut oil are used to get the light golden
yellow colour and crystalline texture of jaggery.
Chilli powder containing the illegal food dye - an ongoing problem of
processed foodstuffs containing a colouring called Sudan-I (which was not
found in the Surrey curry survey). Sudan-I is an industrial dye designed to
give a red color to solvents, waxes, shoe polish and floor polishes. Now
this really IS an illegal dye in foodstuffs in any country in the world and
has proven carcinogenic properties.
Unfortunately and, of course, illegally, 3 Indian spice merchants used
Sudan-I to give their chilli powder an extra deep red color. That chili
powder was then used, unknowingly, by a host of manufacturers to make some
of their products.
Most of us will be unable to detect this contamination and even if we do,
there is nothing much we usually do apart from avoiding the store or
complaining to the store owner.
The other option is lodge a complaint with the Health Department of the
Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or the Public Health Institute,
located at K R Circle.
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Few links with the articles
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article517420.ece
http://www.boloji.com/health/articles/01001.htm
Law against adulteration;
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/under-new-law-life-imprisonment-for-food-a
d/6
08835/
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/pesticides-and-t
oxi
ns/food-policy/food-standards/food-adulteration
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So far about Indian goods, probably you can find allot of more. But that's
not worse. 'Goods' from China are more 'deadly'. People literarily dying,
from Chinese foods. Pets are dying too from Chinese pet food. Even Chinese
medicine is too often deadly. You can even die just by brushing teeth with
their toothpaste.
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2007/06/poisoned_toothpaste_medicine_f.html
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2007/05/conterfeit_food_simply_profita_1.html
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Some coments of devotees;
We need to spread this awareness among the ISKCON devotees how Indian
produced products such as spices, and ghee are quite deadly. Indian
producers have
lost all their morals. They are only after money, not caring how many people
die or contact incurable diseases from their adulterated products. Everyday
here in India, we see on the TV lots news on the adulterated milk, ghee etc.
About 70% of milk you get in the urban areas are adulterated with
detergents, urea's etc. Our Krishna Balaram temple have stopped using ghee
and paneers in all their preparations.
When you are in India, you eat anywhere at your own risk.
thanks,
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Do you that about 25% of turmeric powder is actually wood-dust, which are
mixed together by the unscrupulous manufactures.
Wood dust is better. Worse they mix dried and powdered donkey stool, since
it is yellow in colour and mixes well with the turmeric powder. They mix
papaya seeds with black peeper, Urea (fertilizer) diluted in water with
milk. Now days there is a synthetic milk, synthetic paneer, curd etc. Non
Veg Ghee packed as pure ghee.
The only way to avoid all these is Varnashram and self sufficient
communities.
******************************************
To summarize; it is best to avoid all powdered spices from India; I don't
have much information about other countries. Certain imported exotic fruit
and vegetables like Karela too, are pretty deadly, sprayed with and (or)
injected with
anti fungi chemicals, etc. Avoid all Chinese foods and medicine if you are
not completely sure that is genuine. And the most important, make your own
contribution for self sufficiency, for our farm communities, and grow your
own food as far possible. Soon or later it will happen that we 'have' to
adopt a simpler life and depend on food we produce ourselves, to save our
sanity for chanting Hare Krihna
Thank you, all glories to Srila Prabhupada!



Old Wise Man

Old Wise Man

Story about a wise old farmer, who had a horse, that one day escaped.
His neighbours came to offer their sympathy, "How terrible for you to
lose your only horse" to which the wise old farmer replied "Maybe yes,
maybe no." a while later, the horse returned with another horse. The
neighbours now said, "How fortunate your horse escaped, and now you
have two horses, what good luck!" The farmer responded "Maybe yes,
maybe no." not long after the farmer's son was riding the new horse to
break it in, he fell off and broke his leg. The neighbours came to
offer their sympathy, "How unfortunate your horse brought back such a
wild companion, who has now broken your son's leg."..."Maybe yes,
maybe no." replied the farmer. The next week a company of soldiers
arrived at the village, the officer in charge declared that all able
bodied men were needed to defend the countries borders, they were
under attack from a ferocious adversary. The farmer's son was excused,
on account of his broken leg...The neighbours who many of their own
sons recruited, told the former "How fortunate you were that your new
horse broke your son's leg, we may never see our sons again" The wise
old farmer replied "Maybe yes, maybe no"..etc

The story continues till we realize that there is no end to cycle of
happiness and distress in this material world. The only solution is to
serve Lord Krishna, remember Him at the time of leaving the body and
go back to our spiritual home, where it is always bliss and ecstacy.



Lord of the rings




Here's an interesting question from Bhakta Stanislav in Riga Latvia:

Hare Krishna !
Please, accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and devoties of the Lord!
Could you tell me what are the rings, worn by Srila Prabhupada ? What are they connected with?"

Answer

The various rings that Srila Prabhupada is sometimes seen wearing were all gifts from disciples and admirers. Srila Prabhupada had no interest in wearing jewellry of course, but he liked to recognise the devotion and service of his followers. On that basis, he sometimes was given a ring and he wore them.

Sometimes he would receive a ring, wear it for some time and then give it away:

[TD 1] March 21 1976 – Mayapur

"In the afternoon devotees gathered in Prabhupada's room for a last darsana. On behalf of the Philadelphia temple, Ravindra Svarupa prabhu gave him an eighteen-carat gold ring made by Gopinatha dasa. Prabhupada held it for a moment, puzzled as to what the design was. "It is a crown?" he asked.

Ravindra Svarupa reached forward and turned it up the other way. That revealed the words "Hare Krsna," with three small diamonds forming the diacritic dots under "Krsna."

Prabhupada smiled with pleasure and appreciation, and he slipped it on the little finger of his right hand. Then, opening the drawer in his desk, he pulled out another ring, a large, decorative, golden one with a big, black stone, which he handed to Bhavananda Maharaja. Very gratefully, Bhavananda immediately put it on, and it fitted perfectly."

April 16 1976 – Bombay

"Prabhupada has been taking his noon massage sitting on the tiny balcony between his bedroom and the kitchen. When we began today, I slipped the Hare Krsna ring from his finger. He has been wearing it continuously since it was given to him in Mayapur, but because it is a little loose I usually take it off to massage his hand.

Prabhupada looked at it when it came off. Then he looked at me and said, "It is loose? So, now you try it."

Surprised, but very eager, I put it on the little finger of my left hand, but it was a bit slack.

He said, "Oh, too big?"

Not wanting to lose the opportunity, I didn't reply but quickly tried it on the little finger of my right hand, and it fit nicely.

"All right," he smiled, "you can have it!"

I immediately offered him my obeisances and very gratefully tucked it into the fold of my gamcha.

Prabhupada doesn't give away such items often, so I was in ecstasy to get this special gift from him without any prompting and for no apparent reason."

[TD 2] June 19 1976 – Toronto

"Before he left, Subhavilasa came forward with an unusual gift — a child's piggy bank. Srila Prabhupada laughed to see it. It belonged to Subhavilasa's son, Indriyesha, and it was stuffed full of coins. When Srila Prabhupada came to Toronto last year, he had done a similar program at Subhavilasa's house and Indriyesha had handed the piggy bank to him. Prabhupada had held it in the air and shook it and then laughed — it was half empty. He had handed it back to the boy and told him "Fill it up!" So throughout the year the boy has been faithfully adding one coin after another in anticipation of Srila Prabhupada's next visit. Now today, he got his chance to again present it. This time Prabhupada very happily accepted it, greatly pleasing the entire family.

Subhavilasa also presented a gold ring as guru-daksina, which Prabhupada put on. Then at about 8:00 P.M. he returned to the temple. A few minutes into the journey Srila Prabhupada slipped his new ring off and gave it to Pusta Krsna, who was both surprised and grateful to receive it."

[TD 3] July 30 1976 – New Mayapur

"One of the devotees gave Srila Prabhupada a gold ring with the maha-mantra inscribed on it. He put it on and now wears rings on three fingers of his left hand and two fingers of his right."


A ring he wore constantly on the third finger of his left hand was a small gold ring with a diamond in the center which I believe was given to him by Yamuna dasi.


In the last couple of months that His Divine Grace was with us in 1977 he wore a large blue sapphire mounted on a white gold ring on the advice of an astrologer.

Tamal Krishna Goswami writes about this in his TKG's Diary:

TKG's Diary – July 19 1977  Vrndavana

"This morning, the swelling was the least I have seen.  Last night, Srila Prabhupada called me into his room and handed me the one ring that previously could not be removed from his finger."

August 4 1977

"After lunch, Srila Prabhupada had me read again the astrologer's report brought by Yasodanandana Maharaja.  Prabhupada found it to be quite accurate regarding his past.  For the future, it stated that Saturn was exerting a very bad influence, which could be counteracted by wearing a blue sapphire.  Abhirama contacted Guru-krpa Swami in Hong Kong, who was going to purchase one there or in Delhi.  Srila Prabhupada described the precaution to be taken with the valuable stone when it was purchased.  "It should never be allowed to pass into another's hands.  A goldsmith should be called to our house.  After seeing the stone, he can prepare the ring at his shop.  Then he can bring the ring and we will give him the stone.  In front of us, he can fix the stone.  It is simply curing the teeth of the setting and the stone becomes locked up.  And while the ring is being prepared, the gem can be wrapped in some silk cloth and tied around the arm.  But the stone should never pass into others' hands."

August 9 1977

"This morning, Guru-krpa Maharaja arrived and immediately placed a blue sapphire ring on Srila Prabhupada's right ring finger.  The mounting was made of white gold and was studded with diamonds."


The sapphire ring was left on Srila Prabhupada's body when it was put into samadhi on November 15 1977.

The last ring to be to him came from the New Vrindaban community:

[TKG's Diary] October 7 1977 – Vrndavan

"Kirtanananda Maharaja arrived to the delight of Srila Prabhupada, who immediately inquired about New Vrindaban.  Kirtanananda presented Srila Prabhupada many gifts.  There were 7,500 dollars from initiations, a silver-threaded, crocheted bead bag, onyx boxes containing jewels, and a gold ring set with valuable stones.  Prabhupada put the ring on his finger and laughingly said, "So we will have to find out some bride."

There was a valuable brooch that Prabhupada said could be given to Krsna-Balarama.

Kirtanananda Maharaja then requested Srila Prabhupada to please pray to Krsna to be allowed to live.  Srila Prabhupada was very much moved by the touching request.  When Kirtanananda expressed his intense desire for Prabhupada to come to the palace in West Virginia (of which he later showed photos), Prabhupada said, "Unless I become a little strong, I can't go."  Prabhupada tried a little ice cream they had brought and said it was first-class.  He then requested Kuladri to keep everything carefully.

Prabhupada was considering what to do with the gifts Kirtanananda Maharaja had brought him.  He wanted to give the brooch to Krsna-Balarama but felt that the temple would not keep them safe.  He called for Kirtanananda Maharaja and told him to keep the jewels for Radha Vrndavana-candra.  I suggested that the money could be deposited in Prabhupada's personal account, but Prabhupada wished that the money be "utilized for developing New Vrindaban.  I shall come; and if I survive, I have a strong desire to go and live there.  It will be a great pleasure."  Kirtanananda Swami said that the devotees already felt Prabhupada was living there: puja was being performed twice daily at the palace.  Prabhupada said, "Yes, that is the way.  You are worshipping Radha Vrndavana-candra very intelligently, and the place is being developed very nicely.  Whenever you require money, you can ask.  He [Tamala Krsna] will give."  Kirtanananda Swami said, "I prefer to give."  Prabhupada countered, "No, give and take.  You are fulfilling my desires.  New Vrindaban!  I dreamt all this.  Wonderful things have happened.  He is the first student.  From the very beginning, when I was in the storefront, he was bringing carpet, bench, some gong, lamp-seva-service attitude.  Jaya!  Live long!  Serve long!"


In 1977 when Vrindaban Candra De, Srila Prabhupada's youngest son, and his wife had their first child, a baby daughter they named Gauri, Srila Prabhupada gave him a gold ring for the child that I had been gifted in the early 1970s by Bhurijan das and his wife Jagattarini dasi when they were in Hongkong.


Bhurijan's 'P' ring on Srila Prabhupada's left little finger


Bhurijan narrates this pastime and the giving of another ring, in his book "My Glorious Master."


MGM 8-10: Stealing a Heart

"During Prabhupada's transit through Hong Kong, I had heard that he was dissatisfied with ISKCON leadership and had therefore temporarily disbanded the GBC. With boyish naivete and the desire to encourage him, I bought him a 24-karat gold ring and engraved it with the words, "Jaya ISKCON." I presented this ring to Prabhupada in Hong Kong before we traveled together to Tokyo. Now as I sat with Prabhupada in Tokyo during his massage, Sudama carefully rubbed mustard oil onto Prabhupada's chest, back, legs, and hands. Sudama then noticed Prabhupada's golden "Jaya ISKCON" ring.

"Prabhupada," he asked, "you have a new ring."

"Yes."

"Who gave it to you?" Sudama asked, as he massaged the back of Prabhupada's neck.

Prabhupada slowly lifted his head and stared at me. Only the three of us were in the room, and I felt softened by Prabhupada's glance.

"Who gave you the ring, Prabhupada?" Sudama repeated.

Prabhupada kept looking at me and said softly, "Oh, someone."

* * *

Prabhupada could have told Sudama that I had given him the ring. Instead he replied, "Oh, someone." When he said those two words, my heart melted and flowed to his lotus feet in the intimacy of our simple and loving secret."


[MGM] Hongkong Part One – 1974

One day an aerogram arrived from Prabhupäda's secretary, Satsvarüpa Mahäräja, informing us that Prabhupäda would visit us in two weeks. His letter closed, "Hoping to see you again in Kåñëa consciousness." My left eye twitched. Full of anxiety, I began to prepare for Prabhupäda's second visit to Hong Kong. …

MGM 12-13: The Respect of a Vaisnava

"When Prabhupada arrived, we had offered him a 24-karat gold ring with a raised "P" on it, a gold necklace with a "P", and a gold bracelet engraved with the full word, Prabhupada. We had also arranged a Rolls Royce to carry him from the airport to his luxurious hotel suite. Prabhupada appreciated our recognition of his position as the representative of Krsna and told Satsvarupa Maharaja, "This is a great credit for the one who has made these arrangements." …

"Prabhupada was concerned about how I was withstanding the pressure of his purification. He inquired, "So, how are you doing?"

"I'm all right, Prabhupada, but I'm afraid my wife isn't doing so well."

Prabhupada looked worried and asked me to call her in. He also handed me his dictaphone tape and requested I give it to Satsvarupa Maharaja to type. I stepped outside and insisted that Jagattarini go in and see Prabhupada.

Jagattarini had chosen not to be in Prabhupada's room. She felt it too painful to be in her spiritual master's presence and yet feel so hopeless. Instead, she waited outside, wondering how such a terrible condition had come upon her so quickly. When the tape began, however, she listened earnestly and she felt as if Prabhupada was diagnosing and treating her condition and her questions were being answered.

MGM 12-16: A Special Ring

"As we entered and offered our obeisances, Prabhupada was grave. Slowly he removed a thin, gold wedding ring from his finger. He held it delicately between his thumb and forefinger and turned to Jagattarini. "This is for you." Prabhupada extended his arm and placed the ring into her outstretched palms. He appeared thoughtful, gentle, and soft like a loving father. Jagattarini bowed her head and began to cry."

[MGM] Melbourne May 1975

Srutakirti vigorously massaged sandalwood oil into Prabhupada's head. I suddenly noticed that he still wore the gold ring with the engraved "P" on it that I had given him when he visited Hong Kong in 1974.

"You still have the ring," I said in near surprise. "Yes," said Prabhupada, "It is a good ring."

* * *

That Prabhupada not only accepted but wore my offering for years thrilled me. I saw him wearing the ring many times. Because the gold was pure and soft and the ring-size expandable, he would at times wear it on one finger and then move it to another.

Years after Prabhupada's departure from this world, I learned what finally became of that ring. Prabhupada's "son" had come to see him in Calcutta and had requested him again and again for money for bangles for his daughter. Prabhupada finally give him the ring and he left, satisfied. Prabhupada then turned to his servant and said, "I am not attached."



--
Your Insignificant  Servant
Prem Kishore Das

(Jai Srila Prabhupada)

Did lord Ram eat meat


Dr Zakir naik and his colleagues at the IRF believe so.
Dr. Shuaib Sayyed, Research Manager, Islam and Comparative Religion, (IRF) says, "It is mentioned in Ayodhya Khandam chapter 20, 26 and 94 that when Rama was sent for Banavas he told his mother that he would have to sacrifice his tasty meat dishes. If Rama had to sacrifice his tasty meat dishes, it means that Rama had meat. If Rama can have meat, why can't the Hindus have meat? ... Sita asked Rama to kill the buck (deer)...What will Sita do with a dead pet? The only logical answer is that she wanted to have the meat of the buck. If Rama and Sita can have meat then why can't the other Hindus have meat?" Let us examine if these allegations have any truth.

Valmiki Ramayana, the original narration of Ramayana, has a total of 537 chapters, and over 24,000 verses, arranged into six kandas, or books. There are only two references to meat, and over a hundred references to vegetarian diet. The Ayodhya Kanda has 119 chapters. Chapter 20 describes Mother Kaushalya's grievous lamentation on hearing from her son Rama, that He has been banished to the forest. Rama tells her in verse 29, "I shall live in a solitary forest like a sage for fourteen years, avoiding meat and living with roots, fruits and honey". Can we validly infer from this that Lord Rama ate meat while in Ayodhya, and now He promises to avoid it in the forest? The exact words used are 'hitva aamishham'. 'aamisham' refers to meat and 'hitva' refers to 'disregarding' or 'with the exception of' (Monnier Williams dictionary). Traditionally, in Vedic culture, when a son leaves home to go to distant lands, he reassures his parents, that he would abide by strict moral codes and never deviate from the religious principles. Say a student promises his parents when going to stay in the hostel, "I won't drink alcohol while in the hostel." Does this mean that he is drinking it while at home? Obviously not. Similarly it's in this mood that Lord Rama assures His mother that he wouldn't stoop low. In Chapter 26 Lord Rama tells Mother Sita of His decision to go to forest and instructs her to stay at Ayodhya. There is no reference to any eating- meat or otherwise-in any verse of this chapter. Moreover in almost all the verses of chapter 94, (which also Dr. Sayyed quotes), Lord Rama glorifies the various fruits, trees, and flowers at the forest of Chitrakuta, with absolutely no reference to any meat- eating whatsoever.

Did Mother Sita ask Lord Rama to kill the deer? In the third book, Aranya kanda(forest trek),chapter 43, Mother Sita spots the golden deer and asks Lord Rama to fetch it. She asks, "Oh, nobleman's son, that delightful deer is stealing my heart, oh, dextrous one, bring it round, it will be our plaything." [3-43-10]. In the next eight verses she rejoices at the prospect of taking the deer back to Ayodhya where the animal will delight all the palace residents. She clarifies that if the deer is to be killed at all (Laksman had earlier warned it to be a demon), then they could use the deerskin as a seat. (3-43-19, 20). The forest dwelling sages used kusa grass and deer skin as seats during the earlier ages when flora and fauna was in abundance. Here again there is not even a hint that Lord Rama or Sita wanted to eat the flesh of the golden deer. In the 36th chapter of sundara kanda (Book of Beauty), Hanuman assures Mother Sita that Lord Rama would cross over the ocean and defeat Ravana. He reveals that although Lord Rama is in great sorrow of separation from Mother Sita, he hasn't fallen down to intoxicants or meat eating. (verse 41)

'Mamsa' has another meaning; the flesh of a fruit. In the South Indian temple town of Srirangam, when priests offer mango to Lord Ranganath, they chant the prayer, "iti aamra mamsa khanda samarpayami" ("I offer mango 'mamsa' -mango flesh- for the Lord to eat). Thus even if there are occasional references to 'mamsa', we should know it refers to a mango.