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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

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JAMAICA, NEW YORK, June 1, 2013 (press release): The 2nd Hindu Mandir Priests' Conference concluded at the Shri Surya Narayan Mandir here in Jamaica. The Conference was hosted by the Shri Surya Narayan Mandir, in collaboration with the Bhavaanee Maa Mandir, the New York Sanatana Mandir and the United Community Mandir under the auspices of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of American. The Inaugural Session of the conference got underway on the evening of Friday, May 31. In attendance were more than 130 Hindu devotees, pandits and swamis.

As the audience listened in rapt attention, the speakers made very thoughtful presentations that covered the challenges facing priests in the community by Amrutur Srinivasan, the work of the USA Pandits' Parishad in Guyana and here in the USA by Pandit Parasram, and Swamini Svatmavidyananda's talk on Devotion, Dharma, Prayer and the Priesthood. The Arya Spiritual Center's Dharmacharya Pandit Ramlall also spoke about the challenges facing the Hindu in hostile societies. The sessions covered topics such as priests' role: issues and concerns; community's issues and concerns: devotees' and executives' inputs; sharing resources; and education and training. In the third session dealing with community issues and concerns, young Aneesh Bairavasundaram stole everyone's hearts with a polished presentation of "My story: Growing Up in a Priest's Family." One outstanding feature of this conference was the number of youthful Hindus who made presentations. In addition to Aneesh, there was also Austin Ayer who spoke about the training available at universities in the Maharishi Organization, Devi Mehotra who spoke about the Hindu Students Council at Yale University and Dr. Anand Ramnarine, who called for a "national Hindu voice, as a means of solidifying our Hindu identity." After all the presentations, the participants unanimously approved 2 resolutions for action:

1. Enhance communication among priests in North America by building a dharmic bridge between priests and the community they serve.

2. Develop a priests training workshop model that includes development of a guide book.

The conference is part of HMEC, an initiative of World Hindu Council of America (VHPA). Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) of America (VHPA), founded in 1970 and incorporated in the state of New York in 1974, is an independent, nonprofit, tax- exempt and volunteer-based charitable organization serving the needs of Hindu community in USA.

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By practicing tolerance of those who insult us, we will feel honor and insult as the same. Just as we feel good when someone praises us, we should feel just as good when we are insulted. Stability in honor or insult is the ability to still have love for our aggressor.
-- Sri Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Spiritual Guru of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha