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KAUAI, HAWAII, June 18, 2013 (HPI): The July/August/September, 2013, edition of Hinduism's award-winning spiritual magazine, Hinduism Today, has been released in digital form and is now available for free on your desktop. You can read articles online or download the PDF or ePub and enjoy it on your iPad.

We broke most of our rules in this one. And for good reason. The issue focuses almost entirely on the extraordinary Kumbh Mela held recently at Prayag, where three holy rivers converge. Readers may know that this is the largest gathering of human beings in the world. This year, fully 30 million were at the mela on the most holy day, February 10th, and a mind-boggling 130 million attended during the entire month. How big and difficult is that to engineer? Well the city of Tokyo has 30 million residents, and the mela is miles of temporary tents on a sandy river bed.

Our intrepid team, a journalist and photographer, captured the event on all levels, from the personal trials and tribulations of pilgrims to the initiation of 1,600 sadhus on the banks of the Ganges, a highly-protected and private event that we were miraculously able to attend and capture for you. They interviewed 250 people and took 5,500 photos. So when we saw what they had experienced, we were compelled to share it with you and set other feature articles aside. We realized that while 130 million Hindus were there in person, 870 million more were not. We present the full experience, from the comfort of your home.

Countless camps and events took place. One sadvi, a woman monastic, held a Women's Empowerment Day at her camp, raising all of the gender issues of the day, which are a hot topic in India of late. Muniji of the Parmath Niketan Ashram put his considerable influence to work in orchestrating a Green Mela initiative, and himself joined the teams to clean the River Ganges. His article explains the importance of environmental consciousness to India and to seekers.

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak bravely brought a group of untouchables to the gathering, and formally freed them all of the onus of social ostracism. His story lights a lamp of hope for the future, a future "in which all may share the well, the pond, the temple and the dining table."

The words of pilgrims will give you courage in undertaking life's difficulties, and the counsel from the swamis will inspire you forward on your chosen path. And the photos.... so many awesome photos that will make you a virtual pilgrim to the river sangam.

In this issue's Publisher's Desk, Bodhinatha to your home, to teach you how to approach God with love and never in fear. It's a common truth, that people do things out of fear of God's retribution. Common, but not necessary, as you will learn in his editorial.

You're living in California and wondering if it's safe to go to the big all-stone Hindu temple in town, since this is an earthquake zone, one of the most active on Earth. Well, if your town is Chino Hills near Los Angeles and the temple is the Swaminarayana Mandir, then you are safe. You see, the talented BAPS sadhus and volunteers built this new temple, which reaches 79 feet high, on 40 specially-designed supports called base isolators. If an earthquake hits, and it will, the entire stone temple can move up to four feet horizontally and still remain intact. The article dives into the fascinating details, and explores how the group fought successfully against local resistance to their presence.

There's more, of course. A where-am-I-? cartoon, a story of how much it costs to own an elephant, a new crossword puzzle as well as a few surprises found in our quotes and letters. It's all there in the current issue of Hinduism Today, where you go to stay in touch with Sanatana Dharma. In print and online.

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In the house of the seer there are five cows (the five senses), which without a cowherd wander everywhere. If they were controlled and their thirst quenched, they would give milk.
-- Tirumantiram, a sacred mystical treatise by Rishi Tirumular.

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BUTTERWORTH, MALAYSIA, June 14, 2013 (nst.com): A 100,000 strong crowd -- largely made up of Hindu devotees, while people of other faiths included locals and tourists from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India -- thronged the Arulmigu Sree Maha Mariamman Devasthanam temple for the annual seven-day fire-walking festival here recently.

The festival started with a fire-walking ritual at Jalan Mengkuang, where some 3,000 devotees walked over a 22 ft. long and 6.5 ft. wide poo-kuli (fire pit). This fire-walking tradition in Butterworth has been practiced for over a century.

On Tuesday, more than 5,000 devotees, including local Chinese and foreigners, fulfilled their vows by carrying decorated kavadis, paal kudams (milk pots), agni satee (pot of burning fire), shaving their heads, performing the angga paravesam (rolling on the floor), carrying the maa vilakku (lighted lamp made of flour) and performing the madi pitchai (fulfilling vows by asking for alms).

Temple chairman Parthiban Sanderasaggaran said 10 days prior to the fire-walking ritual, the kodi yaettram (flag-raising ceremony) signified the start of the festival. "Hindus celebrating the festival will adhere to a strict vegetarian diet for at least 21 days. "The celebration is the longest and second largest Hindu event in the state," he said. Parthiban said the festival has been celebrated at the same place for more than 140 years.

On the third day, the silver chariot bearing the statue of the deity Arulmigu Sree Maha Mariamman was taken on a 12 mile procession around the northern part of the town. Devotees, well-wishers, businessmen and women, especially from the Chinese community in Jalan Raja Uda, broke thousands of coconuts on the streets as a symbol of cleansing to pave the way for the chariot to pass.

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UNITED KINGDOM, June 14, 2013 (BBC): India's population is forecast to continue to grow until 2050, according to the United Nations. India looks set to overtake China as the world's most populous country from 2028, according to the United Nations. At that point, both nations will number 1.45 billion people each. Subsequently India's population will continue to grow until the middle of the century, while China's slowly declines.

The UN also estimates that the current global population of 7.2 billion will reach 9.6 billion by 2050. That is a faster rate of growth than previously estimated. The population growth will be mainly in developing countries, particularly in Africa, the UN says.

The world's 49 least developed countries are projected to double in size from around 900 million people in 2013 to 1.8 billion in 2050, whereas the population of developed regions will remain largely unchanged. The UN said the reason for the increase in its projection is largely new information on fertility levels in certain high birth rate countries.

Large developing countries, such as China, India and Brazil, have seen a rapid fall in the average number of children per woman, but in other nations, such as Nigeria, Niger, Ethiopia and Uganda, fertility levels remain high.

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One does not suddenly reach a point where desire goes away. Desire is life. Desire can be directed according to the personal will. Through sadhana you can gain mastery over all the forces of your mind and body.
-- Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of Hinduism Today