TWO YEARS AFTER TAHRIR SQUARE

EGYPT OPPOSITION IN CLASHES

ON REVOLUTION ANNIVERSARY

www.bbc.co.uk - Egyptian opposition supporters are gathering in central Cairo to mark two years since the start of the uprising that swept Hosni Mubarak from power. Police clashed with opponents of President Mohammed Morsi who are now converging on Tahrir Square. There are clashes in Alexandria and Suez. In Ismailia protesters set fire to the Muslim Brotherhood's party HQ. Critics accuse Mr Morsi of betraying the revolution. He denies this and has appealed for calm. An appeals court recently overturned Mr Mubarak's life sentence over the deaths of protesters and ordered a retrial. The 84-year-old former leader remains in detention at a military hospital.
Opposition supporters began converging on Tahrir Square on Friday morning. Some protesters have erected checkpoints to verify the identities of people passing through. Others have set up an exhibition of photographs of those killed in protests over the past two years.

The roads leading from Tahrir Square to several nearby government buildings and foreign embassies have been blocked by concrete walls since last November. Demonstrators tried to dismantle one of them on Thursday night, but a new wall was built to block entry to the Cabinet headquarters. The unrest continued overnight. On Friday, Nile TV reported worsening clashes outside the interior ministry near Tahrir Square. The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Tahrir Square says there are now large numbers of protesters there, but that the violence is restricted to a small corner of it, where teenagers are throwing stones at the parliament building. 
At least 25 people have been injured in clashes in Cairo since Thursday. Smaller rallies are taking place in other cities, including Alexandria, Ismailia, Suez and Port Said. Clashes were reported in at least two locations in Alexandria, with police firing tear gas and protesters burning tyres.

In the middle of a deep economic crisis, President Morsi has urged Egyptians to mark the anniversary in a 'peaceful and civilised way', but opposition groups continue to accuse him and his Muslim Brotherhood backers of betraying the goals of the revolution. Two years ago, on 25th January 2011, it began with a big dream: Millions of people went into the Cairo streets with the aim of toppling the dictatorial Mubarak regime and establishing a democracy in Egypt. But today, according to Professor Elie Podeh, the situation can be described in six words: disappointment, disillusionment, dissatisfaction, despair, distress and distrust. As much as the hopes for a change were big, so was the disappointment. There are problems and disturbances everywhere, so we should inquire about the cause of them and find out a solution to our miserable material life. 

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Sanatana Gosvami, who had been a wealthy minister in the Mohammedan government in India, presented himself to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and asked, ke ami, kene amaya jare tapa-traya: "Who am I? And why am I suffering the threefold miseries?" This is intelligence. We are constantly undergoing some sort of distress, whether caused by the body and mind, inflicted by other living entities, or brought about by natural disturbances. We don't want all these miseries, but they are forced upon us. So when one accepts a spiritual master, the first question should be, "Why am I suffering?" ... Asking about the ultimate cause of our suffering is called brahma-jijnasa, inquiry into the Absolute Truth. As it is said in the beginning of the Vedanta-sutra, athato brahma-jijnasa: "Having gotten the human form of life, one should inquire into Brahman, the Absolute Truth."

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Journey of Self-Discovery” 
"The Self and Its Bodies"
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/