Painting showing Swami Haridas, Emperor Akbar and Tansen

Photo: Jaipur-Kishangarh mixed style Rajasthani painting (1750) depicting Emperor Akbar and Tansen visiting Swami Haridas in Vrindavan

Swami Haridas, the spiritual poet and classical musician credited with a large number of devotional compositions in the Dhrupad style, is the founder of the Haridasi School of mysticism. His work influenced both the classical music and the Bhakti movements of North India, especially those devoted to Krishna's consort Radha. He is counted as a follower of the Nimbarka Sampradaya, the Vaishnava tradition of devotion to Radha-Krishna. He was the disciple of Purandara Dasa and the teacher of Tansen.

Pope tells priests to live holy lives

In this video from www.romereports.com, the report says, on his second day in Portugal, Pope Benedict XVI knelt at the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima. The pope prayed before a statue of the Virgin Mary, thanked her for saving the life of his predecessor and as a tribute, left behind a golden rose. Most importantly his message tells the priests to live holy lives.

Frano Selak, the most blessed man

Frano Selak, a music teacher and a pensioner now, is mostly dubbed as the world's luckiest man by many websites, but some others consider him as the unluckiest! How can you describe him: the luckiest or the unluckiest? It is like the old proverb about the glass that is half empty! Quite philosophical, as you cannot blame one who is disappointed that the glass is half-empty, or the one who is happy that it is half-full!

But Frano Selak says, “I never thought I was lucky to survive all my brushes with death… I always think I was unlucky to have been in them in the first place but you can't tell people what they don't want to believe." Perhaps this can be the most appropriate assessment of the situation, as it comes from the same man who went through the harrowing experiences and escaped from situations of instant death seven times in his life, and survived every time, unscathed, to tell his story!

Frano Selak is a resident of Petrinja, which is south of Zagreb in the centre of Croatia. He is 81 years old now. He is married five times and says about his fifth marriage, "I guess all the earlier marriages were disasters too."

Five years ago he won one of the biggest lotteries in the world, worth £600,000, and he has now decided to give away his lottery fortune, because, now he does not think money alone can bring in happiness.

Selak said he has never been happier, adding about his wife, “All I need at my age is my Katarina. Money would not change anything… When she arrived I knew then that I really did have a charmed, blessed life."

As he has decided to live a frugal life, the world's luckiest man Frano Selak, has sold his luxury home on a private island, given away all his fortune to family and friends, and moved back to his modest home in Petrinja. He only kept a very small last bit of his winnings for a hip replacement operation so that he can enjoy life with his wife, and also ‘he could build a shrine to the Virgin Mary to give thanks for his luck’.

Selak’s amazing escapes are as follows:

In 1962, Selak was travelling from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik by train. The train derailed and plunged into an icy river killing 17 people. But he miraculously managed to make it to the riverbank, though after breaking his arm, bruises and suffering from hypothermia and shock. It was his first escape from death.

Hardly a year passed when in 1963 he had his first flight, and the only one in his life, when a door of the plane was thrown open killing 19 people. But Selak was lucky to escape death a second time, because he was thrown clear of the crash and he landed on a haystack.

His third encounter with death was in 1966. He was travelling in a bus that skidded into a river, drowning four people. But Selak swam to safety and suffered only some cuts and bruises on his body.

In 1970 Frano Selak was driving in his car along a motorway when his fourth accident happened. Unexpectedly his car caught fire and he fled out of it just seconds before his car’s fuel tank exploded.

Three years later, in 1973, a faulty fuel pump of his car spewed petrol over the hot engine and blew flames through the air vents. He escaped it, though most of his hair was lost to fire.

His sixth accident was a bit later, in 1995 when Frano Selak was knocked down by a bus in Zagreb. As you may expect him to do by now, he walked away with only minor injuries.

In 1996 Selak was driving in his Skoda in a mountainous route and just when he negotiated a corner turning to see a truck of the UN coming straight for him. His Skoda careered through a crash barrier and over a 300-feet precipice. He decided to leap clear in the last seconds and sat on a tree from where he saw his car hit the bottom and explode in flames.

About his many brushes with death Frano Selak said, "I never thought I was lucky to survive my brushes with death; I thought I was unlucky to be in them."

Now, don’t you think it is unusual or miraculous for a man to survive death so many times, and then be lucky to win one of the biggest lotteries, a fortune of £600,000? I think it is one of those rare ‘believe it or not’ stories, just miracles. And I think he is not only the luckiest, but ‘the most blessed man’. Watch him in the video report on Frano Selak in this blog.

The World's Luckiest Man Frano Selak

He survived from the jaws death not once, but seven times, mostly in disastrous accidents from which it is difficult to survive. Most of the disasters, including landing on a haystack after falling out of a plane door that had blown open in the mid air, took place in quick succession. Will you call him the luckiest or the unluckiest person? The 81-year-old music teacher, a pensioner now, Frano Selak, a resident of Petrinja in Croatia, says, “I never thought I was lucky to survive all my brushes with death. I always think I was unlucky to have been in them in the first place but you can't tell people what they don't want to believe."

Five years ago, in 2005, he won one of the biggest lotteries, £600,000, and he has now decided to give away his fortune. More on this amazing man’s story will be in the next post! Come back!

The children of Fatima

Lucia Santos (left) with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta in 1917

Our Lady of Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary, gave reported apparitions of her to three shepherd children at Fatima in Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months, starting from May 13, 1917. The three children were Lucia Santos and her younger cousins Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto.

On Sunday, 13 May 1917, ten-year-old Lucia Santos, along with Jacinta and Francisco, was tending sheep at the Cova da Iria near their home village of Fatima in Portugal. Lucia reported seeing a woman ‘brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun.’ Further visions were reported to have taken place on the 13th day of the month in June and July. In these, the woman exhorted the children to do penance and to make sacrifices to save sinners. According to Lucia’s account, in the course of her appearances, the woman confided to the children three secrets, later known as the Three Secrets of Fatima.

Thousands of people flocked to Fatima and Aljustrel in the next months, drawn by reports of visions and miracles. On 13 August 1917, the provincial administrator, a self-professed atheist, Artur Santos, believing that the events were politically disruptive, intercepted and jailed the children. The administrator interrogated the children and attempted to get them to divulge the secrets, by telling them that he would boil them one by one in a pot of oil unless they revealed the secrets. But the children refused. That month, instead of the usual apparition in the Cova da Iria on the 13th, the children reported that they saw the Virgin Mary on 19 August at nearby Valinhos.

Later, Lucia who became a nun reportedly saw Mary in private visions periodically throughout her life. Most significant was the apparition in Rianxo, Galicia, in 1931, in which she said that Jesus visited her, taught her two prayers and delivered a message to give to the church's hierarchy. In 1947, Sister Lucia left the Dorothean order and joined the Discalced Carmelite order.

Lucia’s cousins Francisco (1908-1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910-1920) became victims of the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-20. Francisco and Jacinta were declared venerable by Pope John Paul II in a public ceremony at Fatima on 13 May 1989. Pope John Paul II returned there on 13 May 2000 to declare them 'blessed'. Jacinta is the youngest non-martyred child ever to be beatified.

In 1941, Lucia claimed that the Virgin Mary had predicted the deaths of two of the children during the second apparition on 13 June 1917. Some accounts, including the testimony of Olímpia Marto, mother of Francisco and Jacinta, stated that her children did not keep the secrets and ecstatically predicted their own deaths many times to her and to the curious pilgrims. According to a 1941 account, on 13 June, Lucia asked Virgin Mary if the three children would go to heaven when they died. She said that she heard Mary reply, "Yes, I shall take Francisco and Jacinta soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart." Lucia died on 13 February 2005 at the age of 97.

On Tuesday, 13th May 2010, Pope Benedict XVI, who is marking the 93rd anniversary of the Virgin Mary's reported apparitions, visited Fatima, now one of the most popular Christian shrines in Europe. The chapel there is built on the site where Lucia Santos, Jacinta and Francisco claimed to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary in 1917.

The site was also popularized by the late Pope John Paul II, who visited three times, believing it was Our Lady of Fatima who helped save him from an attempted assassination in 1981. On Wednesday, Pope Benedict prayed in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, who wears a gold and silver crown in which his predecessor placed the bullet which nearly killed him.

Off-the-track: note the number of times the number 13 repeats in this historical story. Does number 13 have any significance? Do you believe in miracles?

Swami Rama, enlightenment and alleged sexual abuses

"Be happy and fearless. Remember that you are a child of Divinity. Loss and gain cannot even touch your shadow" - His Holiness Sri Swami Rama

The American securities broker Robert Walter’s website Son of a Swami welcomes visitors with the announcement, ‘Robert Walter was 12 when he discovered that his real father was his mother's guru, the renowned Indian yogi Swami Rama - not his alcoholic dad, Arne Walter’, and adds, ‘Robert hoped he'd finally found the strong, wise, and loving father he'd always yearned for. But he quickly realized that he was the guru's dirty little secret: Swamis are Indian monks who take vows of celibacy, and Robert was living proof that "His Holiness Swami Rama" was not the otherworldly saint his followers worshipped’.

Robert Walter who claims to be the son of Swami Rama and his mother, Shirley Walter, plan to publish a book, "Son of a Swami: A Life of Lies", a double memoir of their relationships with Swami Rama and their involvement with The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy. When Swami Rama landed in USA to spread the knowledge of Yoga, meditation, spirituality, etc., Shirley Walter’s Yoga center became his first base of his operations in the United States.

In the proposed book 'Son of a Swami: A Life of Lies', the website says, "Robert explores his painful quest for a bond with his father… Robert becomes caught in a web of lies and false promises… Robert confronts the questions that have plagued him since he was 12, 'Is he the son of a sex addict, a yogi with extraordinary powers, or both?'" Shirley explores "how she became one of Swami Rama's earliest supporters and one of his sexual victims". She also details the price she paid for extricating herself from the Himalayan Institute, and examines the ways she failed to understand her son's need for a truthful reckoning until now.

Swami Rama (1925-1996), born as Brij Kishore Dhasmana, in the Garhwal Himalayas in India, became the lineage holder of the Sankya Yoga tradition of the Himalayan Masters, under guidance by his guru Bengali Baba. After many years of further practice in Himalayan caves, Swami Rama was encouraged by his guru to go to the West where he lived a considerable portion of his life.

Swami Rama is recognized as one of the first Yogis to allow himself to be studied by Western scientists. In the 1960s he allowed the scientists at the Menninger Clinic to research on his ability to voluntarily control body processes such as heartbeat, blood pressure, body temperature, etc., which are considered to be involuntary or autonomic. Thus Swami Rama had contributed enormously to yoga's surging popularity in the United States, as he could control his brain waves, heartbeat, etc. His feats were praised sky-high by the media across the United States, winning him many devotees, including Robert Walter's mother, Shirley Walter.

His first ashram was established at the outskirt of Kathmandu, Nepal, where he went on barefoot with nothing but a Kamandalu and a tiger skin mat. Known widely as His Holiness Sri Swami Rama, he founded the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy which has its headquarters in Honesdale, PA and branches in the rest of USA, Canada, UK, Europe and India. The Himalayan Institute's headquarters are located on a 400-acre (1.6 squire km) campus in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, USA.

The Himalayan Institute declares its mission as 'to discover and embrace the sacred link - the spirit of human heritage that unites East and West, spirituality and science, and ancient wisdom and modern technology.' The institute uses techniques of Yoga, Ayurveda, integrative medicine, spirituality, and holistic healing.

Swami Rama authored several books during his lifetime, in which he described his journey toward becoming a Yogi and emphasized philosophy and benefits of practices such as meditation. One of the common themes expressed in such books as Enlightenment Without God and Living With The Himalayan Masters is the ability of any person to achieve peace without the need for an established religion. He criticized of the tendency Yogis to use supernatural powers to claim their enlightenment.

On September 4, 1997 in the United District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania a jury returned an award against the defendant Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA in the amount of $275,000 in compensatory damages and $1.6 million in punitive damages for the sexual misconduct of the Himalayan Institute's former 'spiritual leader' Brijkishor Kumar, popularly known as the 'Swami Rama'. The award was in favour of the 19-year-old Jasmine Patel (Jasmine Patel, plaintiff Vs. Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA).

Jasmine Patel was 13 or 14 years old, when she was introduced to Swami Rama by her parents who treated him as their enlightened spiritual guide and family guru. In the summer of 1989 Jasmine joined the Institute’s 'Self-Transformation Program' from when the swami started abusing her, ending up in full-blown sexual relationship, the American Court order states. It also states, several other women’s similar experiences with Swami Rama.

In the above quoted verdict, the American jury found that Swami Rama (a) had engaged in sexual relations with the plaintiff Jasmine Patel, (b) he had abused his position as the plaintiff's guru to secure her consent to the sexual relations; (c) he had breached the standard of care and fiduciary duties inherent in the relationship between him and the plaintiff; (d) he had intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the plaintiff; (e) had acted maliciously and with conscious disregard for the welfare of the plaintiff; (f) and he was acting within the scope of his agency relationship with the Himalayan Institute when engaging in sexual relations with Jasmine Patel.

Apart from holding the Himalayan Institute liable for compensatory and punitive damages on a respondent superior theory, the American jury also imposed direct liability on the Institute, finding that (a) it had been negligent in allowing Swami Rama to be a sexual predator for a number of years; (b) the actions and inactions of Himalayan Institute constituted the intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (c) the Himalayan Institute had acted maliciously and with conscious disregard for the welfare of the plaintiff.

According to some reports, Swami Rama is survived by a daughter and two sons, two of whom have been acknowledged in 'At the Eleventh Hour', a biography of Swami Rama written by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, the current head of the Himalayan Institute of the USA. The two are his son Mohit Dhasmana, and daughter Devyani Mungali, by Swami Rama's former wife in India, Lilu Kumar. Lilu and Mohit Kumar have been involved in several lawsuits in India, notably Original Suit No. 865 of 1997 filed in the Court of the Civil Judge, Senior Division, Dehradun, challenging the current leaders of the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, founded by Swami Rama.

Miranda Marbaniang, another woman from Shillong, India, claims she is Swami Rama's oldest daughter. Swami Rama's devotees and followers have not acknowledged either Robert Walter or Miranda Marbaniang as the guru's children, as he was supposed to have taken vows of celibacy (Sannyas).

While he was alive, Swami Rama said on the allegations of sexual abuse, "Do not defend me", as part of the discipline of Asian Yogis to live up to their ideals.

Bhagawan Nityananda Ashram

Nithyananda Ashram, originally uploaded by Malabar Magazine.

Bhagawan Nityananda Ashram at Kanhangad (Kerala) and the temples located there are looked after by a trust. The trust also runs a few educational institutions and a Dharmasala.

Bhagawan Nityananda's samadhi is located at the Samadhi Mandir in Ganeshpuri, Maharashtra, India. There is also a shrine dedicated him in the Gurudev Siddha Peeth Ashram at Ganeshpuri. Nityananda Ashram, tourist hostel and other buildings associated with his life in Ganeshpuri are preserved by the Shree Bhimeshwar Sadguru Nityanand Sanstha, Ganeshpuri. This trust is also responsible for his Samadhi Shrine in Ganeshpuri, which is a popular pilgrimage site.

Nithyananda's judicial custody extended till May 26

The Ramanagara Sessions Court judge Vijayalakshmi extended the judicial custody of Nithyananda Swami till May 26, after the Police informed the judge that ‘they were not in a position to produce Nithyananda today as their personnel have been drafted for security for the Gram Panchayat elections.

Swami Nityananda landed in a controversy in March after some Indian TV channels aired purported video footage showing him in a compromising position with a Tamil film and television actress. He was arrested from Solan in Himachal Pradesh on April 21, from when he has been in judicial custody.

Earlier there were reports that Advocate H S Chandramouli, who has been representing Nithyananda in cases pending against him in Ramanagara, Bangalore and Chennai, has filed a no objection certificate whereupon a new lawyer can be appointed for Swami Nithyananda, who faces charges of rape, unnatural sex, hurting religious sentiments , criminal intimidation, etc.

It has been reported that Nityananda has hired the services of a Mumbai based law firm to replace H S Chandramouli, who withdrew from his cases.

Pope Says Church's Own Sins to Blame for Sex Scandal

This Associated Press video of May 11 says, in his most thorough admission of the Catholic Church's guilt in the clerical sex abuse scandal, Pope Benedict XVI said on Tuesday that the greatest persecution of the institution is born from the sins within the church and not from a campaign by outsiders.

Pope blames 'terrifying' sex abuse on Catholic Church

Lisboa: Papa Bento XVI, originally uploaded by Dragom.

Nick Squires in Lisbon, Telegraph News on 11 May 2010

The Pope has laid the blame for the "truly terrifying" clerical sex abuse crisis squarely on the Catholic Church for the first time as he arrived in Portugal for a four-day visit.

In Lisbon, Pope Benedict XVI waved to enthusiastic crowds turned out to welcome the Pope as he proceeded through the city in his white, bullet-proof 'Popemobile'.

Benedict XVI said that "the greatest persecution of the church does not come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sins within the church."

His remarks were a repudiation of a string of senior figures of Vatican who in recent months have attributed the scandal to a shadowy conspiracy mounted by outsiders, ranging from a hostile media to liberals within the Church.

The Vatican has been strongly criticised for trying to apportion blame elsewhere and there was outrage when a close ally of the pope, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, last month dismissed the child abuse allegations as "petty gossip".

In some of his strongest comments yet on the crisis which has dismayed Catholics around the world, the 83-year-old pontiff said that while the Church had suffered from problems of its own making in the past, the scale of the present challenge today was "truly terrifying".

"The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also the necessity of justice," he said.

The Catholic Church has been convulsed by allegations that many bishops did too little, too late to stop the activities of paedophile priests, first in the United States and Australia and more recently in Ireland and continental Europe.

The turmoil has claimed the heads of several senior clerics, including three Irish bishops, a Belgian bishop who admitted that he had sexually abused a boy, and most recently, Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg in Germany, who has also been accused of sexually abusing children.

There have been no reported cases of sex abuse in Portugal, unlike in Malta, where last month the Pope met a group of men who said they were abused by priests in a Church-run orphanage on the island.

In Lisbon, enthusiastic crowds turned out to welcome the Pope as he proceeded through the city in his white, bullet-proof "Popemobile".

Schoolchildren waved flags bearing Benedict's smiling face and shouted "Viva o Papa" – Long Live the Pope.

A warship at the mouth of the Tagus River gave a booming 21-gun salute and presidential guards provided a mounted guard of honour.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk