POPE LAMENTS ‘AMNESIA’ ABOUT GOD DURING SPAIN TRIP

POPE LAMENTED “AMNESIA” ABOUT GOD,
A DENIAL OF THE TREASURE OF OUR FAITH

Madrid (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI lamented Friday what he called modern society’s “amnesia” about God as he traveled to a famed Spanish monastery on the second day of his four-day visit for the church’s world youth festival.  Several hundred young nuns cheered, waved flags and performed the “wave” at El Escorial monastery as they waited for Benedict inside a courtyard of the 16th-century complex, a UNESCO world heritage site.  Benedict told them their decisions to dedicate their lives to their faith was a potent message in today’s increasingly secular world.  “This is all the more important today when we see a certain eclipse of God taking place, a kind of amnesia which albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity,” he said.

As he arrived Thursday, Benedict offered words of encouragement to young people facing precarious futures because of the economic crisis, calling for policy makers to take ethical considerations that look out for the common good into account when formulating economic policy.  Benedict’s main priority as pope has been to try to reawaken Christianity in places like Spain, a once staunchly Catholic country that has drifted far from its pious roots.  He has traveled here three times as pope, an indication that he views it as the key battleground as he tries to remind Europe of its Christian heritage and the place he believes God should still have in everyday life.  Later Friday, he will have lunch with a dozen young volunteers of World Youth Day.

Pope Benedict XVI has said modern society is suffering “amnesia” about God on the second day of his four-day visit to Madrid for World Youth Day events.  Benedict denounced the profit-at-all-cost mentality that he says is behind Europe’s current economic crisis and said morals and ethics must play a greater role in formulating economic policy in the future.  Addressing the nuns, Benedict said “In a world of relativism and mediocrity, we need that radicalism to which your consecration, as a way of belonging to the God who is loved above all things, bears witness.”  Unless one practices celibacy, advancement in spiritual life is very difficult.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Celibacy is such an important part of Vedic education that the Sanskrit word for student is brahmacari (“celibate”).  The pressure to give up celibacy begins, of course, in adolescence, the most dangerous age and often the turning point of one’s life.  Young adults need guidance before and during the teenage years to recognize and follow the right path.  Celibacy trains adolescents for self-restraint, whether they stay single or get married.  It develops their inner strength, self-control, and good character.  It also fosters good health and a fine memory.  Without celibacy we can never realize that we are spirit soul, distinct from the body.  Sex reinforces the illusion that we are these bodies.  Sexual attraction and its extensions in family and society are the main knots that bind us to material identification. Vedic education aims to free the child from these knots so the adolescent can act on the spiritual plane.

Śrīmati Urmila devi dasi :
“Teens and Celibacy”
http://urmila.me.uk/
http://www.brahmacarya.info/2010/03/teens-and-celibacy/

UNPLANNED CHILDREN DEVELOP MORE SLOWLY

CHILDREN BORN AFTER UNPLANNED
PREGNANCY ARE SLOWER TO DEVELOP

www.foxnews.com - Children that are the result of unplanned pregnancies tend to experience developmental delays, according to a new study published by the British Medical Journal.  The study found that other factors, like disadvantaged socioeconomic situations, also limit the child’s vocabulary and spatial abilities.  Those pregnancies that are unplanned are also less likely to make it to childbirth.  In the UK, where the study was conducted, nearly 30 to 40 percent of pregnancies that continue through childbirth are not planned.  It is already known that children born after a prolonged time to conception or assisted reproduction are at greater risk of poor health outcomes, such as preterm birth, low birth weight, and congenital anomalies, and some researchers have reported lower cognitive (mental) scores in such children.  So a team of UK researchers set out to investigate in 12,000 children how pregnancy planning, time to conception, and infertility treatment influence a child's cognitive development at three and five years old. 

The study looked at how pregnancy planning, time to conception and infertility treatment affect cognitive development.  Researchers looked at whether the pregnancy was planned, the mother’s feelings at the beginning of her pregnancy, the time to conceive and infertility drug use.  Children were tested for verbal, non-verbal and spatial ability.  Results originally showed that kids born from unplanned pregnancies were four to five months behind planned children in verbal abilities, while those kids born after assisted reproduction were three to four months ahead. 
Though, these findings were later attributed to the children’s disadvantaged home situations.  The study also said that there are no adverse effects of infertility treatment on the children.

Young children born after unplanned pregnancies tend to have a smaller vocabulary and poorer non-verbal and spatial abilities than other children; however, these problems are actually due to socioeconomic factors, a new study suggests.  The differences in verbal abilities - between children born after an unplanned pregnancy and planned children - disappeared when the researchers took into account the socioeconomic circumstances of each child.  Beyond the results of this study we should understand that respecting the link between sex and reproduction is part of a foundation upon which one can exhibit real love.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

If we ask, “Why are so many children today not raised with love in a stable home?” and “Why do people use birth control?” the answers will be practically the same: the parents think sex is for pleasure only, not for reproduction. ... Those who try to prevent pregnancy - through surgery, devices, chemicals, or unnatural sexual practices - develop a mentality of seeing their body as meant for their own purposes, rather than seeing both their body and the bodies of their children as gifts from God to be engaged in His service. The contraceptive users so much despise Krishna’s plan for the human body that they alter its natural function. They come to hate the responsibilities integral to their own bodies. When those responsibilities take the form of children, they may resent the children as well.

Śrīmati Urmila devi dasi :
“Birth Control Myths”
“All Children Raised With Stability and Love?”
http://www.vaisnavafamilyresources.org/content/birth-control-myths
http://urmila.me.uk/