Rama Ponnambalam Coomaraswamy, (1929-2006), was a cardiac surgeon, then a psychiatrist and later a Traditionalist Catholic priest and exorcist, besides being a prolific writer on Traditionalist Catholicism and Perennialist topics.
Ancestry
Rama Coomaraswamy, of mixed Tamil, English and Jewish ancestry, was the son of the famous Indologist Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, and of his fourth wife Luisa Runstein, an Argentine-born woman of Jewish descent. He is the grandson of the Tamil-Ceylonese lawyer and social pioneer Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby. As such, Rama Coomaraswamy hailed from notable Tamil and English families.
Early life and education
Raised a Hindu, Coomaraswamy obtained his early education according to the Hindu system at the Gurukul Kangri Vidyalaya at Bharadabad-Haridwar in Uttarakhand, India, an institution founded by a member of the Arya Samaj and that was later granted the status of a deemed university.
After graduating from the Gurukul Kangri Vidyalaya, he next studied in Oxford, from where he obtained his Matriculation. Graduating from Harvard university with a major in Geology, he went on to medical school, graduating in 1959. He spent eight years in post-graduate medical and surgical training and then some 30 years as a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon, holding the position of Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, and later as the Chief of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery at Stamford Hospital. Subsequent to some heart problems, he retired from the practice of surgery and retrained in psychiatry in which field he also held an Assistant Professorship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Conversion
Sometime after his father's death, he met an American Catholic woman, and was married to her in Bombay by its Archbishop Valerian Gracias, at the Cathedral of the Holy Name on Wodehouse Road, Colaba. At this time, he converted to Roman Catholicism. As a Catholic, he soon became closely involved with Mother Teresa and her charity works.
However, as Church leaders began to implement institutional change in the name of (formalized by) Vatican II (1962-1965), Coomaraswamy grew increasingly alienated, seeing these changes as the abandonment of Catholic Tradition, saw the New Mass as gravely sinful, and ceased attending these services. As a result, Coomaraswamy became involved with the Traditionalist Catholic movement. He also forbade his children from attending these services. When his wife, displeased with this, sought the advice and intervention of Mother Teresa, she advised his wife to defy his decision by continuing to send their children to the New Mass, thus beginning a series of polemics between himself and Mother Teresa.
Within the Traditionalist Catholic movement, Coomaraswamy initially grew close to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who appointed him Professor of Church History at the St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary of his organization, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), in Ridgefield, Connecticut, a position he held for about five years until 1983. While there, he began an ideological shift towards Sedevacantism. He successfully influenced a significant number of faculty and students to subscribe to Sedevacantism, resulting in the secession of a group of priests and seminarians from Lefebvre — initially nine, among them Clarence Kelly, Daniel Dolan, Donald Sanborn, William Jenkins, and Anthony Cekada. This group then formed the Society of St. Pius V (SSPV). When Dolan, Sanborn, Cekada and most of the other priests of the SSPV began to dissent from the rigorist leadership of Kelly, Coomaraswamy again joined them in departing from the SSPV. They then united in a loose manner as the Instauratio Catholica. Over time, even this loose confederation frayed and ceased to exist.
As a Priest
Although a married man, he was ordained a priest by José Ramon Lopez-Gaston, a Sedevacantist bishop from the lineage of the Vietnamese Archbishop Ngô Ðình Thuc Pierre Martin, in 1999 and began work as an exorcist, collaborating with the Traditionalist Catholic Bishop Robert McKenna. Prior to his ordination he had taken public vows of continence and celibacy, together with his wife. Some years later, he publicly stated that he stopped participating in exorcisms citing his advanced age.
Coomaraswamy was involved with the demonologist Dave Considine and would determine the validity of claims by people who reported being spiritually oppressed by demons. If the person's claims were found to be credible he or another priest would perform the Latin rite of Exorcism.
Catholic Traditionalism and Perennialism
Coomaraswamy was involved with not only the Traditionalist Catholic movement, but also with Perennialism (also called "Traditionalism") whose main exponents were René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy (Rama's father) and Frithjof Schuon. He was a member of the Foundation for Traditional Studies and was a regular contributor to the foundation's journal Sophia.
William Stoddart and Mateus Soares de Azevedo discuss Coomaraswamy's double involvement in an article for the Canadian journal Sacred Web (No. 18, 2007). The topic was also covered by a blogger, Carrie Tomko, specializing in investigation of the occult infiltration of Catholicism, and picked up by, among others, J. Christopher Pryor, a Lefebvrist who operates the Perennialism LeFloch Report. Interestingly, Rama Coomaraswamy had never broken away from Perennialism and propagating it, along with Frithjof Schuon and Coomaraswamy's own perennialist disciple, William H. Kennedy, even when he was associated with Lefebvre's seminary.
Motives for conversion
J. Christopher Pryor reports on the cause and motives of Coomaraswamy's conversion to Catholicism in the following words:
Coomaraswamy... recounted that he converted to Catholicism because there was not enough of a Hindu presence in the United States for him to practice his traditions, and that he found living outside a Traditional Religion repugnant and so became a Catholic, since, according to Rama, Catholicism fit perfectly with his beliefs as a Hindu.
Part of an interview with Joaquin Albaicin in 2003:
Joaquin Albaicin: In his letters, your father gave to you indications regarding how to become a full member of the Hindu tradition. How was that belonging to a Brahman family did you finally embraced the Christian path instead of the Hindu one?
</br>Rama Coomaraswamy: I grew up in Haridwar, one of the Holy Cities of India, and lived for years during my youth as an orthodox Hindu. Having been invested with the yajñopavita or sacred thread, I can state that since the Hindu view point I am a dvija or a "twice born". But after my father's death I returned to America, where my mother was essentially alone. As it was impossible for me to live as a Hindu in America at that time, and as living without any traditional affiliation was in my mind to live on an animal level, I entered Catholicism which I found completely compatible with my Hindu outlook.
Pryor also reproduces what he claims is a letter in reply from Coomaraswamy, responding to these claims:
...Let me speak to the matter of my conversion in which discussion I sense an ad hominum intent. Conversion is both a complex and a simple matter dependent on the grace of God. If I was taught as a Hindu to love and serve God, why would I not continue to believe that when I became a Catholic? And what is surprising about feeling uncomfortable in a purely secular society? I studied the Faith for some two years before seeking baptism.
</br>I have a somewhat unusual background, Deo gratias. My family has included both Jesuit priests and Hindu monks. I was as young man first introduced to the reality of God by a Tibetan monk. I have lived with Hindus and Sufi Muslims as well as with many wonderful Catholics. Many of these individuals feel about their religion much as I do about mine, I proffer no judgment about their beliefs, I know they are men of prayer and love God and feel they may well fall into those that St Pius X said belong to the soul of the Church. But as Muslims are fond of saying, “God knows best.” This does not mean that I am against conversion, and I am happy to preach when opportunity arises, “Christ, and Christ Crucified.” It should be absolutely clear that no one can be saved by error. Those outside the Church who are saved, are saved by the divine Word (logos) which is Our Lord Jesus Christ.
</br>Since my conversion I have never departed from the traditional Catholic faith, though I have often fallen from grace. I think my writings bear witness to my orthodoxy. I think any aspersions cast upon my Catholicism are completely unjustified.
Illness and death
Rama Coomaraswamy died on July 19, 2006 due to complications relating to bone cancer. He left four children and nine grandchildren.
Bibliography
* Correspondence With Mother Teresa
* The Destruction of the Christian Tradition 1972
* The Invocation of the Name of Jesus 1999
* The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy 2004
* , TANBooks.com
* The Problem With The Other Sacraments
Ancestry
Rama Coomaraswamy, of mixed Tamil, English and Jewish ancestry, was the son of the famous Indologist Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, and of his fourth wife Luisa Runstein, an Argentine-born woman of Jewish descent. He is the grandson of the Tamil-Ceylonese lawyer and social pioneer Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby. As such, Rama Coomaraswamy hailed from notable Tamil and English families.
Early life and education
Raised a Hindu, Coomaraswamy obtained his early education according to the Hindu system at the Gurukul Kangri Vidyalaya at Bharadabad-Haridwar in Uttarakhand, India, an institution founded by a member of the Arya Samaj and that was later granted the status of a deemed university.
After graduating from the Gurukul Kangri Vidyalaya, he next studied in Oxford, from where he obtained his Matriculation. Graduating from Harvard university with a major in Geology, he went on to medical school, graduating in 1959. He spent eight years in post-graduate medical and surgical training and then some 30 years as a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon, holding the position of Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, and later as the Chief of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery at Stamford Hospital. Subsequent to some heart problems, he retired from the practice of surgery and retrained in psychiatry in which field he also held an Assistant Professorship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Conversion
Sometime after his father's death, he met an American Catholic woman, and was married to her in Bombay by its Archbishop Valerian Gracias, at the Cathedral of the Holy Name on Wodehouse Road, Colaba. At this time, he converted to Roman Catholicism. As a Catholic, he soon became closely involved with Mother Teresa and her charity works.
However, as Church leaders began to implement institutional change in the name of (formalized by) Vatican II (1962-1965), Coomaraswamy grew increasingly alienated, seeing these changes as the abandonment of Catholic Tradition, saw the New Mass as gravely sinful, and ceased attending these services. As a result, Coomaraswamy became involved with the Traditionalist Catholic movement. He also forbade his children from attending these services. When his wife, displeased with this, sought the advice and intervention of Mother Teresa, she advised his wife to defy his decision by continuing to send their children to the New Mass, thus beginning a series of polemics between himself and Mother Teresa.
Within the Traditionalist Catholic movement, Coomaraswamy initially grew close to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who appointed him Professor of Church History at the St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary of his organization, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), in Ridgefield, Connecticut, a position he held for about five years until 1983. While there, he began an ideological shift towards Sedevacantism. He successfully influenced a significant number of faculty and students to subscribe to Sedevacantism, resulting in the secession of a group of priests and seminarians from Lefebvre — initially nine, among them Clarence Kelly, Daniel Dolan, Donald Sanborn, William Jenkins, and Anthony Cekada. This group then formed the Society of St. Pius V (SSPV). When Dolan, Sanborn, Cekada and most of the other priests of the SSPV began to dissent from the rigorist leadership of Kelly, Coomaraswamy again joined them in departing from the SSPV. They then united in a loose manner as the Instauratio Catholica. Over time, even this loose confederation frayed and ceased to exist.
As a Priest
Although a married man, he was ordained a priest by José Ramon Lopez-Gaston, a Sedevacantist bishop from the lineage of the Vietnamese Archbishop Ngô Ðình Thuc Pierre Martin, in 1999 and began work as an exorcist, collaborating with the Traditionalist Catholic Bishop Robert McKenna. Prior to his ordination he had taken public vows of continence and celibacy, together with his wife. Some years later, he publicly stated that he stopped participating in exorcisms citing his advanced age.
Coomaraswamy was involved with the demonologist Dave Considine and would determine the validity of claims by people who reported being spiritually oppressed by demons. If the person's claims were found to be credible he or another priest would perform the Latin rite of Exorcism.
Catholic Traditionalism and Perennialism
Coomaraswamy was involved with not only the Traditionalist Catholic movement, but also with Perennialism (also called "Traditionalism") whose main exponents were René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy (Rama's father) and Frithjof Schuon. He was a member of the Foundation for Traditional Studies and was a regular contributor to the foundation's journal Sophia.
William Stoddart and Mateus Soares de Azevedo discuss Coomaraswamy's double involvement in an article for the Canadian journal Sacred Web (No. 18, 2007). The topic was also covered by a blogger, Carrie Tomko, specializing in investigation of the occult infiltration of Catholicism, and picked up by, among others, J. Christopher Pryor, a Lefebvrist who operates the Perennialism LeFloch Report. Interestingly, Rama Coomaraswamy had never broken away from Perennialism and propagating it, along with Frithjof Schuon and Coomaraswamy's own perennialist disciple, William H. Kennedy, even when he was associated with Lefebvre's seminary.
Motives for conversion
J. Christopher Pryor reports on the cause and motives of Coomaraswamy's conversion to Catholicism in the following words:
Coomaraswamy... recounted that he converted to Catholicism because there was not enough of a Hindu presence in the United States for him to practice his traditions, and that he found living outside a Traditional Religion repugnant and so became a Catholic, since, according to Rama, Catholicism fit perfectly with his beliefs as a Hindu.
Part of an interview with Joaquin Albaicin in 2003:
Joaquin Albaicin: In his letters, your father gave to you indications regarding how to become a full member of the Hindu tradition. How was that belonging to a Brahman family did you finally embraced the Christian path instead of the Hindu one?
</br>Rama Coomaraswamy: I grew up in Haridwar, one of the Holy Cities of India, and lived for years during my youth as an orthodox Hindu. Having been invested with the yajñopavita or sacred thread, I can state that since the Hindu view point I am a dvija or a "twice born". But after my father's death I returned to America, where my mother was essentially alone. As it was impossible for me to live as a Hindu in America at that time, and as living without any traditional affiliation was in my mind to live on an animal level, I entered Catholicism which I found completely compatible with my Hindu outlook.
Pryor also reproduces what he claims is a letter in reply from Coomaraswamy, responding to these claims:
...Let me speak to the matter of my conversion in which discussion I sense an ad hominum intent. Conversion is both a complex and a simple matter dependent on the grace of God. If I was taught as a Hindu to love and serve God, why would I not continue to believe that when I became a Catholic? And what is surprising about feeling uncomfortable in a purely secular society? I studied the Faith for some two years before seeking baptism.
</br>I have a somewhat unusual background, Deo gratias. My family has included both Jesuit priests and Hindu monks. I was as young man first introduced to the reality of God by a Tibetan monk. I have lived with Hindus and Sufi Muslims as well as with many wonderful Catholics. Many of these individuals feel about their religion much as I do about mine, I proffer no judgment about their beliefs, I know they are men of prayer and love God and feel they may well fall into those that St Pius X said belong to the soul of the Church. But as Muslims are fond of saying, “God knows best.” This does not mean that I am against conversion, and I am happy to preach when opportunity arises, “Christ, and Christ Crucified.” It should be absolutely clear that no one can be saved by error. Those outside the Church who are saved, are saved by the divine Word (logos) which is Our Lord Jesus Christ.
</br>Since my conversion I have never departed from the traditional Catholic faith, though I have often fallen from grace. I think my writings bear witness to my orthodoxy. I think any aspersions cast upon my Catholicism are completely unjustified.
Illness and death
Rama Coomaraswamy died on July 19, 2006 due to complications relating to bone cancer. He left four children and nine grandchildren.
Bibliography
* Correspondence With Mother Teresa
* The Destruction of the Christian Tradition 1972
* The Invocation of the Name of Jesus 1999
* The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy 2004
* , TANBooks.com
* The Problem With The Other Sacraments
The Last Leg With Adam Hills (also known as The Last Leg) was a UK TV show that ran alongside the 2012 Summer Paralympics every night following the main coverage on Channel 4. Hosted by Australian comedian and television presenter Adam Hills and co-hosted by Josh Widdicombe and national TV newcomer
Alex Brooker, it gave an alternative review of the day's events.
Featuring a mix of comedy, guests and Paralympics highlights, the show received rave reviews and regularly pulled in more than a million viewers each night of the Paralympic Games.
Reception
Hills, who was quoted as saying "If the Paralympics is covered well, it can change the way you look at and treat people with disabilities" was praised for his witty take on the sporting action and his refreshing attitude to disability issues.
Colin Robertson for The Sun said that the show's success was down to the simple fact that you can joke about disability — you just need to know what you can say.
The programme provoked a discussion in the media about whether disability and comedy could work together on TV. The Independent described it as "a high risk venture" saying that Hills "reminds us frequently that he has a prosthetic leg, giving him licence to crack jokes that most of us wouldn't dream of."Frances Ryan, for The Guardian, described it as "often tasteless, sometimes awkward, always funny".Damon Rose for BBC News said that "Comedian Adam Hills' late night irreverent Para-chat show The Last Leg - a title reflecting Adam's lack of a segment of his lower limb - has taken mainstream viewers to dark and delightfully surprising places that only disability humour can go. And it has given a sense of permission for regular viewers to talk openly about things they may previously have shied away from".
One of the main features of the show was the "Is it OK?" section where viewers tweeted questions related to disability or the Paralympics that they weren't sure were OK to ask. Channel 4 came under criticism for airing a tweet that asked whether if it is acceptable to hit disabled people.
Guests
Guests on the show included comedians such as Jimmy Carr and Sean Lock and Olympic and Paralympic medallists including Jonnie Peacock and Jason Smyth.
Alex Brooker, it gave an alternative review of the day's events.
Featuring a mix of comedy, guests and Paralympics highlights, the show received rave reviews and regularly pulled in more than a million viewers each night of the Paralympic Games.
Reception
Hills, who was quoted as saying "If the Paralympics is covered well, it can change the way you look at and treat people with disabilities" was praised for his witty take on the sporting action and his refreshing attitude to disability issues.
Colin Robertson for The Sun said that the show's success was down to the simple fact that you can joke about disability — you just need to know what you can say.
The programme provoked a discussion in the media about whether disability and comedy could work together on TV. The Independent described it as "a high risk venture" saying that Hills "reminds us frequently that he has a prosthetic leg, giving him licence to crack jokes that most of us wouldn't dream of."Frances Ryan, for The Guardian, described it as "often tasteless, sometimes awkward, always funny".Damon Rose for BBC News said that "Comedian Adam Hills' late night irreverent Para-chat show The Last Leg - a title reflecting Adam's lack of a segment of his lower limb - has taken mainstream viewers to dark and delightfully surprising places that only disability humour can go. And it has given a sense of permission for regular viewers to talk openly about things they may previously have shied away from".
One of the main features of the show was the "Is it OK?" section where viewers tweeted questions related to disability or the Paralympics that they weren't sure were OK to ask. Channel 4 came under criticism for airing a tweet that asked whether if it is acceptable to hit disabled people.
Guests
Guests on the show included comedians such as Jimmy Carr and Sean Lock and Olympic and Paralympic medallists including Jonnie Peacock and Jason Smyth.
PappaRoti is a coffee shop known for offering coffee, also known as Karak, alongside buns and snacks. PappaRoti started in Malaysia in 2003, where it was very successful due to the authentic taste of its buns, snacks, and coffee. The tremendous success has led the coffee shop to expand globally where there are today over 200 PappaRoti cafes and kiosks around the world.
[a href="https://www.facebook.com/PappaRotiAus"][img src="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid287764794578390&seta.287764764578393.70429.119793628042175&type=3&theater" width="60" height="45"]
In 2009, PappaRoti has launched its first kiosks in the United Arab Emirates in The Dubai Mall and now has a second location within the mall. It has also started its third branch at Sunset Mall on Jumeirah Road.
In 2010, on the 15th of June PappaRoti entered Australia as PappaRoti Australia.
Till 2012, PappaRoti has established branches and franchises in China,Vietnam, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, United Kingdom and Australia, besides Malaysia.
[a href="https://www.facebook.com/PappaRotiAus"][img src="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid287764794578390&seta.287764764578393.70429.119793628042175&type=3&theater" width="60" height="45"]
In 2009, PappaRoti has launched its first kiosks in the United Arab Emirates in The Dubai Mall and now has a second location within the mall. It has also started its third branch at Sunset Mall on Jumeirah Road.
In 2010, on the 15th of June PappaRoti entered Australia as PappaRoti Australia.
Till 2012, PappaRoti has established branches and franchises in China,Vietnam, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, United Kingdom and Australia, besides Malaysia.
A British anaesthetic equipment manufacturer founded in 1949 by Wilfred Jones and William Edmondson in Keighley, Yorkshire.
The founders had previously worked for Coxeter, another manufacturer of anaesthetic equipment and subsequently BOC after BOC took over both Coxeter and A. Charles King. During this time, both men already had their names on a significant number of patents for devices that had advanced anaesthesiology and increased patient safety in the process.
The company's first product was the Cyprane Inhaler - a hand-held Trilene drawover vaporiser for use during childbirth. This was manufactured at Cyprane's first factory - a converted garage - in Oxenhope.
In 1956, Halothane, a potent non-flammable volatile anaesthetic agent was introduced into clinical practice. Cyprane responded to this by introducing the world's first precision temperature-compensated anaesthetic vaporiser - the FluoTEC Mk. 1.
All Mk. 1 vaporisers were recalled, modified, and re-released as Mk. 2 variants in order to correct a critical design flaw which could cause the proportioning valve to stick thus posing a risk of overdosage to the patient.
February 2010 Added the following.
After the hand inhaler came the Tecota which was a more reliable, temperature controlled 'Trilene' vaporizer and was still used by the mid wife.
By the early 1960s there were other vaporizers developed; the 'draw over' used by the military and other field users. Also Mk 11 Halothane and the start of the Tec range that continues to be used to this day. Though not under the Cyprane name.
The founders had previously worked for Coxeter, another manufacturer of anaesthetic equipment and subsequently BOC after BOC took over both Coxeter and A. Charles King. During this time, both men already had their names on a significant number of patents for devices that had advanced anaesthesiology and increased patient safety in the process.
The company's first product was the Cyprane Inhaler - a hand-held Trilene drawover vaporiser for use during childbirth. This was manufactured at Cyprane's first factory - a converted garage - in Oxenhope.
In 1956, Halothane, a potent non-flammable volatile anaesthetic agent was introduced into clinical practice. Cyprane responded to this by introducing the world's first precision temperature-compensated anaesthetic vaporiser - the FluoTEC Mk. 1.
All Mk. 1 vaporisers were recalled, modified, and re-released as Mk. 2 variants in order to correct a critical design flaw which could cause the proportioning valve to stick thus posing a risk of overdosage to the patient.
February 2010 Added the following.
After the hand inhaler came the Tecota which was a more reliable, temperature controlled 'Trilene' vaporizer and was still used by the mid wife.
By the early 1960s there were other vaporizers developed; the 'draw over' used by the military and other field users. Also Mk 11 Halothane and the start of the Tec range that continues to be used to this day. Though not under the Cyprane name.