July/August/September, 2005

Digital Dharma

CYBERSPACE

The Future of Communication

When Apple announced unicode Tamil support in its latest Mac OS X "Tiger " system, we cheered at Hinduism Today. But what does it mean? Well, it is complicated and yet very simple. Unicode is a series, 1,114,111 "points " long, capable of holding characters from all languages. Each character has a unique "code point, " no two ever the same. For the future of computing the implications are awesome: the code point 2965 (U+OB95) will always and everywhere be the Tamil character ka, in any computer, any system, on any keyboard, in any software, in any e-mail, even in China or Botswana. For mankind, what an incredible agreement achievement--United Nations of the Mind! See http://www.unicode.org

CUISINE

Good For You, And Animals!

Vegetarian cooking with Compassionate Cooks, a DVD by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Alka Chandnath, brings you six hands-on demonstrated recipes for mouthwatering, nutritional, satisfying dishes and a wealth of convincing information on vegetarianism. Ideal for beginners or experienced cooks alike, it runs 69 minutes and is available online, $20.00, plus shipping fromhttp:// www.compassionatecooks.org.

ARCHITECTURE

21st Century Chola Temple

Shankar Nathan, Chennai, has done yeoman service to the ancient science of stone temple building with his documentary on the magical story of Hawaii's Iraivan temple, Iraivan, the Science of Ancient Traditions. You will be thrilled to watch the unfoldment of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's vision and the amazing collaboration of his monks with India's South Indian stone craftsmen under the direction of architect, Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati. With an upbeat, modern sound track and state-of-the-art animation sequences, set in a Hawaiian paradise, this DVD will rivet your family to their seats for 45 minutes. Perfect also for presentation to young people to make them proud of their Hindu heritage. For more information and to order see http://www.iraivan.org.

SAIVISM

A Deep Well For Siva

Vedanta and Krishna have for sometime held the highest profiles in modern Hinduism, but Saivism is gradually coming forward. http://www.shaivam.org is a site that has been growing steadily and today offers a wealth of information about Lord Siva. Don't be put off by all the transliterated text. If you dig, you will find a broad range of useful information to enhance your understanding and practice of Saiva Neri--Siva's Way.