What instrument did Paul Klee play? Paul Klee was a prolific Swiss painter who also played the violin for Bern's symphony orchestra. Born  in 1879 to a musical family, his affinity for music is often seen in his art. Klee was noted for his mastery of line, form and color, and his whimsical paintings tread the line between abstract and figurative. He produced more than 10,000 paintings, etchings and drawings over his lifetime. Klee spent much of his adult life in Germany teaching at the Bauhaus Academy, but, in 1933, Nazi persecution forced him to resign from the university and flee with his family back to Switzerland, where he had grown up — his mother was Swiss and his father was German. He was only granted Swiss citizenship posthumously.

Source: www.pib.nic.in
INDIA, December 18, 2009: The Government is promoting the use of solar and other renewable energy sources throughout the country. Solar steam cooking system for cooking food for 15,000 people per day at Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh and for 20,000 people per day at Shri Sai Baba Sansthan have already been installed with support from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

The Ministry has recently introduced a scheme under Special Area Demonstration Programme aimed at demonstrations of various Renewable Energy Systems/devices at places of national and international importance including tourist and religious places such as Vaishnodevi shrine, Tirupati Temple, Ajmer Sharif, Sai Baba temple complex, Shirdi etc.
HPI - Dec 22, 2009

" Be young. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity; of the appetite for adventure over love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than in a boy of twenty." - Swami Bua, age 121

Nama Japa meaning the repetition of the name, do wonders.

Magh Mela To Attract 20 Million, Amenities Not Ready Yet

Source: www.thaindian.com
LUCKNOW, INDIA, December 19, 2009: Around 20 million devotees are expected during the more than month-long Magh Mela that begins December 31 in Allahabad, but civic amenities to handle such a massive crowd, including hospitals, are not ready yet. The work by civic agencies was to be completed by December 15. However, the basic infrastructure at the site of the Sangam, the holy confluence of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, remains dismal.

“If you go as per the pace of arrangements at the site, it will take another seven or eight days for the civic agencies to improve the poor condition of roads, tubewells, provide electricity to the entire mela area of approximately 5,607 acres and complete the work for the construction of four pontoon bridges on the Ganga river,” an official pointed out. Instructions to expedite the work and complete it have been issued, said another official.

Magh Mela’s main ritual involves taking a holy dip at Sangam on auspicious dates. The important bathing dates for the Mela are spread over a period of 45 days. The first bathing day is on the occasion of Paush Purnima December 31. It is believed that taking a holy dip in Sangam during the Hindu month of Magh improves life and makes it disease free. The Magh Mela will end Feb 12 on Mahashivratri.
HPI - Dec 22, 2009

Without being peace, we cannot do anything for peace. If we cannot smile, we cannot help other people to smile. If we are not peaceful, then we cannot contribute to the peace movement.

– Thich Nhat Hahn

First: sorrow. My wife's grand father was a prominent person and was respected by all others. He selected me as the bridegroom for his eldest grand daughter. I honoured him more becuse of his knowledge and talent. When he died I was unable to control myself. I cried a lot.
Secondly: Happiness: over enjoyment. Whenever my spiritual guide's name was mentioned, I felt tears in my eyes. Others will laugh at me. Later I begged him to stop this as i was unable to do anything in that condition. Now I feel it is a boon.

Did a king of England ever 'decline the honor' of being king? On December 11th of 1936, Edward VIII, king of Great Britain and Ireland for 325 days, became the first English monarch to abdicate the throne voluntarily. In love with American divorcee Wallis Simpson, Edward chose to give up the throne, rather than give up the woman who was deemed an inappropriate candidate for future Queen of England. His brother, Albert, was crowned King George VI on May 12, 1937. A month later, Edward and Wallis Simpson were married. Edward became Duke of Windsor, and he and his wife lived abroad for the rest of their lives. The royal family never fully accepted the duchess, but in 1972, Queen Elizabeth II visited the couple while on a state visit to France. When the duke died a few days later, the duchess was treated with the full respect demanded by her title.

New Movie “Avatar” Shines Light On A Hindu Word

Source: www.chron.com
UNITED STATES, December 18, 2009: In James Cameron’s new film, Avatar, the Titanic director creates a world where humans take on the form of what the characters call avatars to exist on a planet called Pandora. Humans control the avatars through technology, but some use their powerful avatar bodies for evil as they try to ruin the resources of the planet.

The term “avatar” might already be familiar to those who play virtual reality games where avatars are movable images representing real people, or navigate through internet’s forums. Essentially, it is something that represents a person in a small micro-universe — cyberspace, for example. The word avatar’s origins, however, come from the Sanskrit language in sacred Hindu texts, and it’s a term for divine beings sent to restore goodness to Earth.

Hindu theology names 10 numbered avatars. Two of the most important from Hindu scripture are Lord Rama, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu and written about in the Ramayana; and Lord Krishna, written about in the Mahabharata. Illustrations of these Hindu avatars, which are magnificently detailed and reflect an aura of divinity, are in stark contrast to Cameron’s alien-meets-robot-warrior look in the film. Despite the very different avatar interpretations, local Hindus’ reverence for specific avatars from their scripture does not conflict with how they are seeing the modern usage of the term.

[HPI note: This belief is particular to some denominations of Hinduism. Vaishnavas and Smartas believe in avatars of the Supreme God, while Saivites and Shaktas traditionally do not.]

“The way the term is now being used is not a distortion of my beliefs,” said Anil Dandona, a practicing Hindu. “It is just a term. We believe the Supreme Being sent humans to create righteousness. These messengers of God take a human form, but they have godlike qualities, and they are delegates sent to do a task.”

Local filmmaker Ashok Rao is looking forward to Cameron’s film, and he feels that as long as filmmakers do not insult the sensitivities of a particular religion, then artistic license can be used. “The film’s use of avatar is a close relationship to the original meaning. It is a word meaning reincarnation and isn’t meant to always mean a representative of God on Earth. It simply means one being in another form.”
HPI - Dec 21, 2009

"Zorba the Buddha is humanity's future. And you all have to become Zorba the Buddhas. Nothing has to be denied, nothing has to be dropped. Everything has to be enjoyed, everything has to be understood. Everything has to be transformed in such a way that it becomes a new source of richness, nourishment, rejuvenation to you."  - Osho