Bin Laden was not buried at sea, leaked email reveal sent to the U.S. for cremation

FnF Desk , Mar 07, 2012

NY: The fate of Osama bin Laden's remains have been called into question after emails leaked from an intelligence analysis firm say the body of the terror leader was actually sent to the U.S. for cremation.
According to the emails, the Al Qaeda boss was shot and killed during the famous Navy SEAL Team Six raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was transported back to the U.S. and cremated.
According to the Daily Mail report, the emails were allegedly obtained by the hacker group Anonymous from Stratfor, an organisation dealing with analysis of intelligence and geopolitical analysis. It's also known as the 'Shadow CIA'.
Last week, Anonymous announced that it had gotten access to 2.7million of the firm’s confidential correspondences, and said they could provide 'the smoking gun for a number of crimes'.
The hackers said Stratfor, based in Austin, Texas, were 'clueless' when it came to database security.
After bin Laden was killed in the famous raid in Pakistan on May 2 2011, the Obama administration said his body was buried at sea off the USS Carl Vinson - in accordance with Islamic tradition.
But in a particular set of emails given to WikiLeaks, the firm’s vice president for intelligence, Fred Burton, says he doubts the official White House version of what happened to bin Laden's body.
Stratfor’s vice-president for intelligence, Fred Burton, says the body was 'bound for Dover, [Delaware] on [a] CIA plane' and 'onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda [Maryland]'.
The claims are sure to stoke conspiracy theorists, especially since the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology that Burton refers to closed its doors on September 15, 2011, four months after bin Laden's death.
In another email, Burton said: 'If body dumped at sea, which I doubt, the touch is very Adolph Eichman like. The Tribe did the same thing with the Nazi's ashes'.
'Eichmann was seen alive for many months on trial before being sentenced to death and executed. No one wanted a monument to him so they cremated him.'
Stratfor CEO George Friedman responded: ‘But i dont know anyone who claimed he wasnt eicjhman [sic]. No comparison with suddenly burying him at sea without any chance to view him which i doubt happened [sic]'.
In a February 27 statement, Stratfor said: In December, thieves compromised Stratfor's data systems and stole a large number of company emails, along with other private information of Stratfor readers, subscribers and employees. Those stolen emails apparently will be published by Wikileaks. This is a deplorable, unfortunate - and illegal - breach of privacy.
'Some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies; some may be authentic. We will not validate either. Nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them.'
Stratfor, which is not affiliated with the U.S. government, would not comment further.
The emails were revealed as it was reported that a members of LulzSec an offshoot of Anonymous, were arrested by the FBI.
An agency official told Fox News that the arrests were 'devastating' blow to the organisation, saying: 'We’re chopping off the head of LulzSec.'
The 'Adolph Eichman' referred to by Burton was a Nazi lieutenant and a major architect of the Holocaust. After World War II ended in 1945, he was caught by U.S. forces, and he slipped through America's fingers when he gave them a phony name.
He wound up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he lived for years until he was captured by the Israeli spy agency the Mossad in 1960.
War crimes and crimes against humanity were among the charges he faced when he was found guilty in an Israeli court in 1962. He was hanged, cremated, and his ashes were later spread over the Mediterranean Sea.

Courtesy: FacenFacts

The Vedas and Upanishads

The oldest literature of Indian thought is the Veda, a collection of religious and philisophical poems and hymns composed over several generations beginning as early as 3000 BC. The Veda was composed in Sanskrit, the intellectual language of both ancient and classical Indian civilizations. Four collections were made, so it is said that there are four Vedas. The four as a group came to be viewed as sacred in Hinduism.
Some Vedic hymns and poems address philosophic themes, such as the henotheism that is key to much Hindu theology. Henotheism is the idea that one God takes many different forms, and that although individuals may worship several different gods and goddesses, they really revere but one Supreme Being.

The Taittiriya Upanishad

There are four Vedas:
(i) The Rig-Veda: Its traditional date goes back to 3000 BC, something which the German scholar Max Mueller accepted. As a body of writing, the Rig-Veda (the wisdom of verses) is nothing short of remarkable. It contains 1028 hymns (10,589 verses which are divided into ten mandalas or book-sections) dedicated to thirty-three different gods. The most often addressed gods were nature gods like Indra (rain god; king of heavens), Agni (fire god), Rudra (storm god; the 'howler'), Soma (the draught of immortality, an alcoholic brew).
(ii) The Sama-Veda: The Sama-Veda or the wisdom of chants is basically a collection of samans or chants, derived from the eighth and ninth books of the Rig-Veda. These were meant for the priests who officiated at the rituals of the soma ceremonies. There are painstaking instructions in Sama-Veda about how particular hymns must be sung; to put great emphasis upon sounds of the words of the mantras and the effect they could have on the environment and the person who pronounced them.
(iii) The Yajur-Veda: The Yajur-Veda or the wisdom of sacrifices lays down various sacred invocations (yajurs) which were chanted by a particular sect of priests called adhvaryu. They performed the sacrificial rites. The Veda also outlines various chants which should be sung to pray and pay respects to the various instruments which are involved in the sacrifice.
(iv) The Atharva-Veda: The Atharva-Veda (the wisdom of the Atharvans) is called so because the families of the atharvan sect of the Brahmins have traditionally been credited with the composition of the Vedas. It is a compilation of hymns but lacks the awesome grandeur which makes the Rig-Veda such a breathtaking spiritual experience.
Upanishads:
The term Upanishad ('upa' near; 'ni' down; 'sad' to sit) means sitting down near; this implies the students sitting down near their Guru to learn the big secret. In the splendid isolation of their forest abodes, the philosophers who composed the Upanishads contemplated upon the various mysteries of life and its creation – whether common, or metaphysical. The answers were however not open to all, but only for select students. The reason for this was simple: not everyone can handle knowledge.
The composition of the Upanishads marks a significant and stride forward in the direction of knowing the mystery of earth's creation and one comes tantalizingly close to the answers. Through episodes, commentaries, stories, traditions and dialogue, the Upanishads unfold the fascinating tale of creation, life, the essence of life and of that beyond to the seeker of truth.
There is no exact date for the composition of the Upanishads. They continued to be composed over a long period, the core being over 7th -5th centuries BC. The Upanishads were originally called Vedanta, which literally means the conclusion to the Vedas.
In the Upanishads, views about Brahman (the Absolute, or God) and atman (one's true self) were proposed.
There are 18 principal Upanishads viz:
Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad:
The Brhad-aranyaka Upanishad is widely accepted to be the most important of all Upanishads. It has three khandas or parts. The madhu khanda contemplates on the relationship between the individual and the Universal self. The muni khanda or yajnavalkya is a debate which goes on to give the philosophical backing to the earlier teaching. The khila khanda tackles various rituals of worship and meditation.
Chandogya Upanishad:
This Upanishad is a part of the Sama-Veda (see The Vedas). The name comes from the singer of the songs (samans) who is called Chandoga. The initial chapters of the Upanishad, discuss the ritual of sacrifice. The others debate the origin and profundity of the concept of Om, among other things.
Aitareya Upanishad:
This one forms part of the Rig-Veda. The purpose is to make the reader understand the deeper meaning of sacrifice and to take him away from the outer trappings of the actual act.
Taittriya Upanishad:
A part of the Yajur-Veda, this Upanishad is divided into three sections or vallis. The siksa valli deals with the phonetics of the chants, while the others, brahmananda valli and bhrgu valli deal with self-realization.
Isa Upanishad:
Also called the Isavasya Upanishad, this book deals with the union of God, the world, being and becoming. The stress is on the Absolute in relation with the world (paramesvara). The gist of the teachings is that a person's worldly and otherworldly goals need not necessarily be opposed to each other.
Kena Upanishad:
The name of this Upanishad comes from the first word kena, or by whom. It has two sections of prose and two of poetry. The verses deal with the supreme spirit or the absolute principle (brahmaana) and the prose talks of ishvara (god). The moral of the story is that the knowledge of ishvara reveals the way to self-realization.
Katha Upanishad:
Also called the Kathakopanishad, this Upanishad uses a story (katha) involving a young Brahmin boy called Nachiketa to reveal the truths of this world and the other beyond the veil.
Prashna Upanishad:
Prashna literally means question, and this book is part of the Athrava-Veda. It addresses questions pertaining to the ultimate cause, the power of Om, relation of the supreme to the constituents of the world.
Mundaka Upanishad:
This book also belongs to the Atharva-Veda. The name is derived from 'mund' or to shave, meaning that anyone who understands the Upanishads is s(h)aved from ignorance. This book inscribes the importance of knowing the supreme brahmaana, only by which knowledge can one attain self-realization.
Mandukya Upanishad:
The Mandukya is an exquisite treatise which expounds on the principle of Om and its metaphysical significance in various states of being, waking, dream and the dreamless sleep. The subtlest and most profound of the Upanishads, it is said that this alone will lead one to the path of enlightenment.
Svetasvatara Upanishad:
The name of this Upanishad is after its teacher. It comments on the unity of the souls and the world in one all-encompassing reality. The concept of there being one god is also talked about here. It is dedicated to Rudra, the storm god.
Kausitaki Brahmana Upanishad:
The Upanishad has come down to us in bits here and pieces there. The core of the text is dedicated to illustrating the fact that the path to release is through knowledge.
Maitri Upanishad:
This is a comparatively later Upanishad as it has references to the Trinity of Hindu Gods (Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma) which is a later development, and plus references to the world being illusory in character reflects Buddhist influence.
Subala Upanishad:
Belonging to the Yajur-Veda, this Upanishad puts down a dialogue between the sage Subala and Brahma the creator of the Hindu Trinity of Gods. It discusses the universe and the absolute.
Jabala Upanishad:
Belonging to the Athrava-Veda this Upanishad addresses some questions pertaining to renunciation.
Paingala Upanishad:
The Paingala is again a dialog, this between Yajnavalkya, the sage mentioned the Brhad-aranyaka's muni khanda and Paingala, a student of his. It discusses meditation and its effects.
Kaivalya Upanishad:
This Upanishad delves into the state of kaivalya or being alone.
Vajrasucika Upanishad:
Belonging to the Sama-Veda the Vajrasucika reflects on the nature of the supreme being.
The core of the teachings of the Upanishads is summed up in three words: tat tvam as… you are that.

Courtesy: diehardindian.com
Photo Courtesy: crystallinks.com 
Photo Courtesy: Yajur Veda Australasia--Resources