The Daily Planet: Veda bureau

February 13, 2007

The people of Goulburn may have more luck breaking the drought if they put their faith in something less numerical - like Vedic panditry.

In 1983, when Goulburn was also dry as a bone, 400 so-called Vedic pandits descended upon the town to perform "transcendental meditation and yogic flying" in the hope of breaking the drought. Sydney's Tim Carr, a devotee, says they succeeded: "It started to rain, and after the two-week period the rain continued for a month."

Now, Dr Carr is one of four Australians who have been made "Founders of Invincibility for Australia" by someone called Maharajah Nader Raam, who claims to be the ruler of the Global Country of World Peace and has an address in the Netherlands.

In quite possibly the strangest press release that has ever landed on the SiT desk (and there have been some corkers over the years), we are told that Dr Carr and his peers are now applying for visas to bring 460 Vedic pandits from India to Australia, to "raise national consciousness to such a high state of integration that the nation is invincible" - and, as if that weren't enough, that they can do it "within a few weeks".

Carr told us yesterday that they were still negotiating with the Immigration Department and looking for sponsors to fly all the pandits out here and put them up.

"It's in the interests of the business communities, it's in the interests of farmers, it's a win-win all round," he said.

Such promises! He could be in politics.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/sit/archives/2007/02/the_daily_planet_veda_bureau.html

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