Poor Girl Cleaning Car for Livelihood. It is a national shame. Govt has failed miserably in fulfilling fundamental right and providing free education to ALL children of age 6 to 14, as guranteed under the Right to Education Act,fulifil and employing them gainfully for development of India.
Duration : 0:0:7
http://protectacow.typepad.com/Prabhupada:people are engaged unnecessarily to work very hard day and night, the capitalist, the worker. Big, big factory, iron factory, in so many factories, unnecessarily. So Prahlada Maharaja was concerned. He was living, his father was a demon, in the demonic state. So this is natural. If one saintly person do not be disturbed by people’s unhappiness, he is not saintly person. He is not saintly person. If he is simply satisfied that “I have got a temple, I am getting good income, let me eat and sleep.” My Guru Maharaja condemned this process. He said that to earn livelihood by showing some temple and collecting money and eat and sleep, better to become a sweeper in the street and earn his livelihood instead of earning livelihood in this so-called spiritual way. So practically all over the world a class of men, a priestly class of men, they have made it a means of earning livelihood, temple achar(?), taking money from people and enjoying, and then become drunkard. In your country, five thousand drunkard priests were consolidated in a hospital for treatment. They’re getting money. So there is possibility, we are opening temples, public is contributing. But if we become easy-goer, “Now money is coming, let us eat sumptuously and eat, eat and sleep, and if possible drink also.” But, of course, we are restricting. But naturally when one man becomes idle, idle brain is the devil’s workshop. So if he can get… Just like rich man’s son, they become. Everyone has got experience in every country. When he has no difficulty to get money, then what he will do? He will simply drink or invent some means of intoxication, naked dance. So they became very much perturbed. Venasyaveksya durvrttasya vicestitam, vimrsya loka-vyasanam krpaya ucuh sma… Krpaya, they were very much compassionate. They cannot see. Para-duhkha-duhkhi. Therefore, Vaisnava is always unhappy by seeing other’s unhappiness. They know how they are going to . Just like any gentleman will be aggrieved when they pass on the Bowery Street, seeing their fallen condition. So if any gentleman can become unhappy by seeing such condition of people, what to speak of saintly persons who are supposed to be responsible for spiritual up…Room Conversation Jaipur, January 18, 1972
Duration : 0:8:18
Syed Wali Muhammad سید محمد ولی (takhallus Nazeer نظیر), more commonly known as Nazeer Akbarabadi نظیر اکبرآبادی , was born in Delhi دہلی in c. 1735 CE. His fathers name was Syed Muhammad Farooq سید محمد فاروق . His was a respected and rich family. His mother was the daughter of Nawab Sultan Khan, the Governor of Agra fort. Agra was then known as Akbarabad after Akbar and was the capital city for 4 Mughal emperors (Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan [builder of the Taj Mahal تاج محل, finished in1653], and Aurangzeb). By the time of his birth, the decline of the Mughal Empire had started. A period of chaos had started when the future became uncertain and even cities like Delhi and Akbarabad went through great destruction. It was a period of Tawaif-ul Malukiطوائف الملوکی (Urdu term, literally meaning a horde of kings). When Nazeer was young, the city of Delhi went through a very difficult time due to repeated invasions and chaos (one by Nadir Shah, another by Ahmad Shah). When Nazeer was in his early 20′s, he moved to Akbarabad along with his mother and grandmother.
He had to go through difficult times due to the social upheavals as the livelihood of a poet depended on the ruling elite, if he himself was not among this class. At age 28, a few years after he moved to Akbarabad, Akbarabad was attacked and captured by Suraj Mal Jat. As he left, he appointed Soha Ram Jat as the ruler of Agra. They destroyed buildings and dug them up, searching for buried wealth. This caused great destruction and Nazeers life went into a downward spiral. Since he had saved his books, he started a long career as a tutor. He tutored the children of Nawab Muhammad Ali Khan, and then Lala Bilas Rai. In his last years Nazeer was linked with the court of Raja Balwan Singh of Kashi (Varanasi, Banaras). When Nazeer passed away in c. 1830, he was in his 90′s.
Nazeers life overlaps partially with that of some other famous Urdu poets like: سودا Mirza Muhammad Rafi Sauda 1713-1781, میر Mir Taqi Mir 1723-1810, جرات Shaikh Qalandar Bakhsh Jurat c. 1747-1807, مصحفی Ghulam Hamdani Mushafi c.1750-1824, and انشا Insha Ullah Khan Insha c. 1756-1818. In his time, there were the Delhi and Lukhnow schools of Urdu poetry. He steered clear of both, and I believe, founded a third. Later on, Altaf Hussain Hali (1837-1914) حالی also wrote in a similar style, with more stress on nazm نظم ، rather than the ghazal غزل .
Nazeer was a prolific writer, but only a small percentage of his verses have survived to this date. Looking at his asha’ar, they clearly are very different. There are mostly local words. Farsi was the official language of India at that time and based on his background, he must have been be well educated in Farsi and Arabic. I (this humble Tamashai) think that it was because by nature he was a rebel, a trendsetter, and he wrote for the common people, in the language they spoke and understood. I think he willfully ignored Farsi. He mostly wrote poems. The titles of some of his poems: Banjara Nama بنجارا نامہ (the one uploaded here), Taj Mahal تاج محل (also located in Akbarabad, or Agra), Eid عید , Basant بسنت , Eid-ul Fitr عید الفطر , Bachpan بچپن , Jawani جوانی , Burhapa بُڑھاپا , Kullo nafsin zaiqatul maut کل نفس ذائقہ الموت , rahey naam Aallah ka رہے نام اللہ کا , Dunya, دُنیا Ahl-e Dunya اہلِ دُنیا , Kori کوڑی , Muflisi مفلسی , Roti روٹی , Pait پیٹ, Tandrusti تندرستی , Khushamid خوشامد . It should give an idea about his poetry. There is not much detail about his life in the literature due the chaos of that time, and also due to the fact that Nazeer was not well known during his time and was ignored by future researchers / critics of Urdu poetry. Muhammad Hussain Azad (1830-1910) completely ignored him in his extensive and well known masterpiece, Aab-e Hayat آبِ حیات.
This poem: Banjara Nama literally means Poem of a Peddler. I have not used the term chronicle on purpose. Peddlers were the traders on the move. Their trade declined from mid nineteenth century onwards due the mass migrations to big cities, and development of rails, automobiles, and big city markets. They sometimes were also fortune tellers. One can believe that they had to use their verbal skills to boost their sales. Hence there is a negative connotation about the word banjara (or peddler). In India they were mostly the traders of edibles who used ox carts. Nazeer has used the term banjara in 2 contexts. First is his addressee in the poem. The second, I believe, is the one who carries animal carcasses on his cart to throw them away (translated as the angel of death on the Internet translations). See this European banjaran of milk with her dog cart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dogcart3.jpg
خاموش تماشائی
KhamoshTamashai
Duration : 0:4:47
“We must understand what the disaster is. A huge wave is not the disaster. The disaster is human. People who lost their family, that’s the disaster. Somebody lost his livelihood; somebody lost his home; that’s the disaster. Somebody doesn’t have something to eat tonight; that’s the disaster. So, this disaster is not just on the physical plane. A human being’s suffering is hugely within himself, more than outside. A few packets of food may arrive, and he may get to eat; however, the new conditions – that he has to sit on the street side and eat, not in his home, and that his family has disappeared – that is the real disaster, the human part of it.” – Sadhguru
Tsunami Relief & Rehabilitation
Isha Foundation which already operated centers in the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu was quick in its response to the unprecedented and catastrophic death and destruction caused by the tsunami on 26th December, 2004. In coastal areas of Chidambaram and Cuddalore and the devastated villages in Vellankovil and Nagapattanam, thousands of Isha volunteers from all walks of life tirelessly operated relief camps from the very first day, offering food, shelter, quality medical istance and psychological relief to the victims. Specially designed Isha Yoga classes were also conducted to help those affected cope with the disaster, through physically and psychologically strengthening tools.
Personally participating in the relief and rehabilitation programs, Sadhguru made several visits to the affected areas — closely directing and overseeing the process. Eight Mobile Health Clinics complete with their medical teams, supplies and thousands of volunteers were immediately moved from their project sites to the coast and put at the disposal of the district administration.
Subsequently, in close working with the district administration, Isha Foundation adopted four villages in Cuddalore district and completed a model rehabilitation program that was highly acclaimed by the beneficiary communities and the state administration alike. In addition, Mobile Health Clinics were permanently dedicated to implementing the project Action for Rural Rejuvenation in 60 coastal villages.
Isha Foundation delivered its first permanent house to the victims within 30 days of the disaster. The novel housing design developed promptly by Sadhguru himself, was certified as fire, earthquake, cyclone and tsunami proof by various institutions. Further, a boat manufacturing facility was set up on the premises of Isha Yoga Center to respond to the urgent need for fishing boats (the sole livelihood provider of coastal villagers). Volunteer engineers and professionals isted to restore livelihoods lost through the calamity.
A massive tree planting program and creation of a green belt through Project Green Hands was also undertaken and is ongoing in coastal villages affected by the tsunami.
For in-depth information about Isha Foundation’s Tsunami Relief and Rehabilitation operations please visit
www.ruralrejuvention.org/relief.
http://www.ishafoundation.org/Disaster-Response/Tsunami-Relief-&-Rehabilitation.isa
Duration : 0:3:2
NationalSierraClubhttp://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/nationalsierraclubNonprofitcarl, pope, india, hindiSierra Club’s Carl Pope announces Green Livelihoods Awards for India [Hindi]
Duration : 0:1:29
Part six of the CONCERT FOR INDIA’S ENVIRONMENT’. “We cannot expect local people, the poorest of the poor, to pay the price of conservation in our country”. (Dr Erach Bharucha)
Duration : 0:4:34
Excerpts from 45-min. documentary produced in the framework of the Project “Post Tsunami Restoration of Mangroves, Education and Reestablishment of Livelihoods in Sri Lanka” funded by the EU-Comission in the frame of the Asia Pro Ec II B Post Tsunami Programme.
A project of Global Nature Fund
in collaboration with Nagenahiru Foundation and EMACE Foundation of Sri Lanka
Visit www.globalnature.org for information about Global Nature Fund projects and the International Living Lakes Network.
Duration : 0:10:0
NationalSierraClubhttp://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/nationalsierraclubNonprofitcarl, pope, india, englishSierra Club’s Carl Pope announces Green Livelihoods Awards for India [English]
Duration : 0:2:58
Gandhi’s major statement on the Palestine and the Jewish question came forth in his widely circulated editorial in the Harijan of 11 November 1938, a time when intense struggle between the Palestinian Arabs and the immigrant Jews had been on the anvil in Palestine. His views came in the context of severe pressure on him, especially from the Zionist quarters, to issue a statement on the problem. Therefore, he started his piece by saying that his sympathies are all with the Jews, who as a people were subjected to inhuman treatment and persecution for a long time.
“But”, Gandhi erted, “My sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and in the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after their return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?”
He thus questioned the very foundational logic of political Zionism. Gandhi rejected the idea of a Jewish State in the Promised Land by pointing out that the “Palestine of the Biblical conception is not a geographical tract.” The Zionists, after embarking upon a policy of colonization of Palestine and after getting British recognition through the Balfour Declaration of 1917 for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jews,” tried to elicit maximum international support. The Jewish leaders were keen to get an approval for Zionism from Gandhi as his international fame as the leader of a non-violent national struggle against imperialism would provide great impetus for the Jewish cause. But his position was one of total disapproval of the Zionist project both for political and religious reasons. He was against the attempts of the British mandatory Government in Palestine toeing the Zionist line of imposing itself on the Palestinians in the name of establishing a Jewish national home. Gandhi’s Harijan editorial is an emphatic ertion of the rights of the Arabs in Palestine. The following oft-quoted lines exemplify his position: “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs… Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.”
Gandhi’s response to Zionism and the Palestine question contains different layers of meaning, ranging from an ethical position to political realism. What is interesting is that Gandhi, who firmly believed in the inseparability of religion and politics, had been consistently and vehemently rejecting the cultural and religious nationalism of the Zionists.
Duration : 0:4:58
Duncan King explains how DFID’s work to improve the livelihoods of some of India’s poorest through the Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project (MPRLP)
Duration : 0:2:11