Source

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, April 19,2013 (Deseret News): Preeya Prakash is difficult to define -- even for Preeya Prakash. "I consider myself an American," she said during a recent break in classes at the University of Utah, where she is a 24-year-old graduate student with a BA in neuroscience from the University of Southern California. "And I'm a Utahn. I was born here in Salt Lake City. I have lived here all my life. I've got the accent and everything."

She is also Indian. Her parents were both born and raised in India, and her hair, skin and handsome features bear the genetic imprint of a country in which she has never actually lived. "When people ask me, 'Where are you from?' I always say, 'Well, I was born here,'" she says with characteristic wit and good humor. "And then they look at me and say, 'Well, yeah, but where are you ... you know ... from?'

Things get a little more complicated for Preeya when you throw her Hindu beliefs and culture into the definitional equation. "Culturally, I am Hindu -- and a pretty traditional Hindu, at that," she said while relaxing in one of the Marriott Library lounges. "For me, I kind of look to my faith as a guideline for how I should lead my life. It's the part of me that keeps me grounded, that tells me who I am and that I am part of something bigger than myself."

For Preeya, growing up Hindu in Utah has meant being part of a decided minority -- racially, culturally and religiously. According to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Utah's 9,000 Hindus comprise .5 percent of the state's population -- a number consistent with the percentage of Hindus throughout the United States.

"I credit my parents for teaching me how to balance our Hindu culture with the culture of Utah," Preeya said. "We were Americans, we were Utahns, we were Indians, we were Hindu. We were all of these things, and we embraced all of them fully and completely."

Much more of the interesting article as well as a slideshow at 'source.'

Source

"Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child, the whole world is your own."
-- Sri Sarada Devi (1853-1920) wife of Sri Ramakrishna

Source

BANGLADESH, April 20, 2013 (the Daily Star): Unidentified criminals set a 200-year-old Hindu temple ablaze at Rajoir upazila in Madaripur in the wee hours yesterday. Police and locals said miscreants torched the Kali Mandir at Mahendradi village sometime after midnight.

Dadon Kanta, chairman of Haridashdi-Mahendradi upazila, suspects that Jamaat or BNP men are behind the attack. Police, meanwhile, arrested Haridashdi-Mahendradi union unit BNP President Abul Kalam Azad yesterday afternoon suspecting his involvement in the incident. Mofazzal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Rajoir Police Station, said they were yet to identify the attackers and that they were investigating the incident.

Uttam Banerjee, president of the temple managing committee, said locals rushed to the spot on seeing the flames but the temple had been badly burnt before they could bring the flames under control. In December last year, miscreants vandalised some statues of the same temple, he added. Hindu temples in several districts have come under attacks in the past few mont

Source

RUSSIA, April 18, 2013 (Elena Krovvidi,RIR): This week, the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre at the Indian Embassy in Moscow, the Ramakrishna Society - Vedanta Centre and the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, jointly commemorated the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Academics, Indologists and religious leaders speak of the relevance of the great Indian sage's teachings in modern day Russia. In his opening remarks, India's Ambassador to Russia, Ajai Malhotra, dwelt upon the contributions made by Swami Vivekananda, one of the most influential spiritual leaders of the 19th/20th centuries. The sage was a social reformer and a great scholar whose teachings influenced many across the globe and continued to do so even today. The Indian ambassador highlighted the message propagated by Swami Vivekananda that "service to God can be rendered by service to mankind." Other prominent speakers on the occasion were Swami Jyotirupananda, Rostislav Rybakov and Mark Mokulsky who highlighted various aspects of the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda and their enduring contemporary relevance.

Swami Jyotirupananda, president of the Ramakrishna Mission in Moscow, was the first speaker. He emphasised Vivekananda's role as a fighter for the rights of the suppressed members of society in India. Jyotirupananda reminded that in India that April 15 - the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda - is celebrated not only by holding lectures and functions but also by holding charitable activities.

Mark Mokulsky, Prof. and Dr. of physical and mathematical sciences at the Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, followed the discussion about Vievakananda by sharing his hypothesis on the connection between spirituality of Vedanta and genetic-molecular science.

Another eminent speaker Rostislav Rybakov, Indologist, Dr. of historical sciences and Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1994-2009, elaborated about the relevance of Vivekananda's teachings to the issues Russia has to face in our day. Rybakov maintains that Vivekananda's philosophy is very much on the agenda for Russia and Russians of the 21st century. Rybakov believes that the only path to follow is to educate children from the youngest age, but not simply educating but imbibing them with moral and ethical values that will lay the foundation for their future view of the world. "The way that we need to go is lengthy, torturous and complex," Rybakov says. But it is the only possible way." The finishing stroke of Rybakov's speech was drowned in enthusiastic applause: "Recently, the French actor Gerard Depardieu has become an honorable citizen of Russia. But, in my view, Swami Vivekananda should become an honorable citizen of Russia, even after his death. We need him very much in our lives today."

Bharti Tailor

UNITED KINGDOM, April 20, 2013: (HPI Note: This report was sent in by Bharti Tailor, bharti@rgenterprises.co.uk).

The groups who are considered 'Low caste' on whose name the legislation on case is being brought in spoke out today to say that they do not want the legislation (being proposed in the British Parliament). "All the groups enjoy protected status and enjoy the privileges that come with this in India." said Mukesh Naker of the British Hindu Voice a Leicester-based organisation. "However they are fully integrated into the British Indian and the wider British community in the UK and feel that there is no need for legislation on caste grounds in Britain." "We were brought up as equals, we know our history but it has never restricted our present and certainly does not hold an influence on our children and grandchildren's futures." said Jitendra Mistry President of the Prajapati Association of the UK who represents 25,000 potters and carpenters from the state of Gujarat.

Manish Amriwala General Secretary of the GAKM who represent 25,000 people from the Gujarati Mochi (Cobblers) in the UK said "Why are Labour MPs legislating for something that they admit hardly occurs? Why are they not legislating on class discrimination, which is more prevalent and effects all the population of Britain? This legislation on caste will lead to caste profiling, identification of people along castes lines and permanently stigmatise many groups across the country. It will bring caste into forefront when there is so little of it in the minds of the people. We appeal to British politicians to think hard and long before embarking on legislation over here that has done much harm in India; where it has become ingrained and permanently a marker on people's records."

Until this issue was brought to his notice last week, Jawahar Patel of the Koli community, like many people in the UK was not even aware what his caste was. Now he has read up about it and feels that the legislation will lead to caste entering the psyche of many. He feels it is best left in the past, in the History books. The children born in the UK after the 1970's do not know what caste is. In one or two generation they will even forget their roots as to which village, town or State their forefathers came from.

The groups are angry that the Labour Party has used this issue as a political tool and are trying to rush it through without due diligence, when there is no initiative to event talk about the issue of class in the British context. Shila Tailor President of the Darji Community who represents 2500 people in London, noted, "The NIESR report on which the politicians are jumping to act was inconclusive. Who did they consult? Because it seems that not a single person was interviewed from any of the communities we represent.

The Anti Caste Discrimination Committee, The ACLC is a task force which has come together solely for the purpose of stopping caste being institutionalized in Britain. It is made up of 56 groups representing 344,569 people who are saying that legislation on this issue will do more harm than good and that the equalities legislation in place in Britain is adequate for all needs accept class. Of the 344,569, approximately half are people who would be classed at 'low caste' in India and be in the Scheduled and Backward class categories and in receipt of positive discrimination measures. However in the UK the communities are fully integrated and they feel there is no need for positive discrimination or legislation on the issue of caste.

Source

Waste not a minute. Be bold. Realize the Truth, here and now!
-- Swami Sivananda (1887-1963), founder of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh

Source

UNITED STATES, April 2013 (The Atlantic): Jai Subedi still doesn't know why Mitra Mishra killed himself. Subedi, a case manager for Bhutanese refugees at Interfaith Works Center for New Americans in Syracuse, NY, was with the 20-year-old Mishra at Schiller Park the evening of July 3, 2010. "We played soccer just the previous day until 6 p.m. and he was totally fine," Subedi said. On Independence Day, early morning walkers found Mishra's body hanging from a tree at the soccer field.

Mishra's death is part of a troubling pattern among Bhutanese refugees resettled in the U.S. The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) began to notice a pattern. Ultimately, 16 suicides were confirmed among U.S. resident Bhutanese refugees as of February 2012. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) had noticed a similar trend among the Bhutanese in the camps in Nepal. IOM documented 67 suicides and 64 attempts between 2004 and 2010. The numbers were high, but without a statistical comparison, it was hard to know how bad the problem was.

ORR tasked the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Refugee Health Technical Assistance Center of the Massachusetts Public Health Department with investigating. By interviewing close contacts of the deceased (typically family members), the study team performed "psychological autopsies" on 14 of the 16 U.S. suicide victims. They also did a broader survey of the general Bhutanese refugee population to determine the rates of suicidal thinking and mental health conditions.

The study team confirmed the government's suspicions; the problem was endemic. The global suicide rate per 100,000 people--how suicide rates are calculated--is 16, and the rate for the general U.S. population is 12.4. The Bhutanese rate is much higher: 20.3 among U.S. resettled refugees and 20.7 among the refugee camp population. A handful of suicides were reported among other refugee groups during the same period as the CDC study, but nothing like the number among the Bhutanese.

The rate of depression among the Bhutanese surveyed was 21 percent, nearly three times that of the general U.S. population (6.7 percent). In addition to depression, risk factors for suicide included not being the family's provider, feelings of limited social support, and having family conflict after resettlement. Most of the suicides were within a year of resettlement to the U.S. and, in all cases, the victims hanged themselves.

Post-migration difficulties that the victims faced offer clues about their possible motivations. Most are unable to communicate with their host communities. Many were also plagued by worries about family back home and over the difficulty of maintaining cultural and religious traditions. Most of the victims were unemployed. While few had previous mental health diagnoses, mental health conditions were probably significantly under-diagnosed in the camps where medical care was basic at best.

Source

WALES, April 15, 2013 (BBC): An organisation to promote Hindu culture, religion and values in Wales has been officially launched. The Hindu Council of Wales (HCW) was established to give Hindu communities "one voice" and to promote better understanding of the culture. The council will also aim to work with other faiths to promote "mutual understanding."

There are more than 10,400 Hindus living in Wales, according to latest figures. The HCW chair Vimla Patel, secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Temple in Splott, Cardiff said the organisation was much needed. She added: "There are other temples and groups all across Wales, but there was no one voice to speak on our behalf."

Radhika Kadaba, secretary of the HCW, said eight organisations currently made up its membership and two people from each group could sit on the council. "The members are not elected and have been selected initially because we wanted a working committee to set up the council," she said. "Over the coming months we will have proper elections according to our constitution."

Mrs. Kadaba said the council was made up of temples, Hindu charities and community centres. Cardiff's Shree Swaminarayan and Sanatan Dharma Mandal temples are also members of the HCW.

Source

Respect, don't suspect.
-- Swami Tejomayananda, head of Chinmaya Mission

Source

BOLIVIA, March 23, 2013 (La Patria): The Grand National Festival of Indian Dance will be held today, displaying the best of that culture, in terms of dance and dress, which will be shown by dance groups coming from La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosi, and Oruro.

The Hamesha Hindu Cultural Center, celebrating its fifth anniversary, has coordinated the event which will to be held in the Oruro Municipal House of Culture from 15:00 hours.

One of the organizers, Esdra Lafuente, owner of the Indi Dil Shop, said that in promoting this activity they've seen that the Bolivian youth really enjoy Indian culture, and that through the Bollywood movies from India, they learn a lot about family and community values, patriotism, relations with neighbors, and more.

Indian dance has influenced several East Asian cultures through the course of history as well as dances like flamenco, jazz and contemporary dance. It has acquired world wide recognition as one of the finest folk dances.

Source

CANADA, April 6, 2013 (The Globe And Mail): Mr. Benisasia runs a South Asian-focused funeral home on Derry Road in Malton and wants to open a crematorium beside it. The land, money and demand is there, he says.

For more than three years, he's waited for his rezoning application to be approved by the City of Mississauga. But a new Mississauga bylaw passed in March says new crematoriums must be a minimum of 300 metres from residential properties, due to concerns over the health effects from their emissions. Since Mr. Benisasia's business is less than 300 metres from several nearby houses, he won't be opening that crematorium any time soon.

But the battle isn't over. He plans to take his case to the Ontario Municipal Board. As part of religious practice, many South Asians cremate their dead - namely Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists. For him, this goes beyond business owner versus city: This is a cultural and religious issue.

"If we have a funeral home that is catering to the needs of that community, but does not have access to their own crematorium services, then it limits their ability to serve the community," said Pandit Roopnauth Sharma, the priest at Mississauga's Ram Mandir, the city's largest Hindu temple.

As Mississauga's ethnic and religious minority population grows, so too do calls for services that cater to their needs. In keeping with the shift, more Ontarians are choosing cremations over burials. In 2006, 48 per cent of people who died in the province were buried and 52 per cent were cremated, according to Ontario's ministry of consumer affairs, which oversees the province's crematoriums. By 2011, it had shifted to 41 per cent burials and 59 per cent cremations.

More at source.

Source

THRISSUR, INDIA, April 14, 2013 (Times of India): A Sanskrit grammar written by German born grammarian, lexicographer and philologist Jesuit missionary Fr. Johann Ernst Hanxleden, popularly known as Arnos Padre, was released in Belgium. The over 300-year-old work, considered one of the earliest missionary grammars in Sanskrit, was released on April 10, Fr. Roy Thottathil SJ, Director of Arnos Padre Academy here, said.

He told PTI that he received an official communication in this regard from Prof Christphe Vielle and Prof. Toon Van Hal of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium., editors and publisher of the book. The 88-page manuscript of "Grammatica Grandonica" was found missing for over three centuries and it was recovered last year by Hal from a Carmelite monastery's library in Montecompatri (Rome), Thottathil said.

Born at Ostercappeln near Osnabruck in Hanover, Germany, Hanxleden arrived in India on December 13, 1700, as a Jesuit missionary. Proficient in German, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Latin, Syriac, Portuguese and Tamil, Hanxleden compiled Malayalam-Portuguese and Sanskrit-Portuguese dictionaries. He mastered Sanskrit even when learning it was taboo for non-brahmins and wrote several essays in Latin based on Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Source

I have heard that man can acquire superhuman powers through it and perform miracles. What shall I do with superhuman powers? Can one realize God through them? If God is not realized then everything becomes false.
-- Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886)

Hindu American Foundation

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 12, 2013 (HAF): "We want justice, we want justice," was the chant heard from a crowd of over 300 demonstrators, mostly of Bengali origin, on Wednesday in front of the White House. The rally, organized by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) and the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), urged the United States government to use its influence to stop the rampant persecution of Hindus and other religious minorities in Bangladesh.

"The recent tragedies faced by the Hindu community of Bangladesh are reflective of the violent attacks that we faced in 1971 and again in 2001," said Sitanghsu Guha, an advisor to BHBCUC. "In a report presented to Congress, Senator Ted Kennedy shed invaluable light on the targeting of Bangladesh's Hindu community during the country's 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. There are details of the tremendous loss of life, hundreds of thousands of women raped, and the nearly ten million people displaced. It is in that spirit that we urge the U.S. government to offer its support to Bangladesh in this critical time. If the U.S. fails to act now, there may be no Hindus left in Bangladesh."

Protesters arrived in chartered buses from New York, New Jersey, Georgia, and as far as California to join local DC area residents. Recent months have seen a sharp rise in violence perpetrated against Hindus, Buddhists, Ahmadi Muslims, Christians, and atheists in Bangladesh by Islamist groups after the first of three Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leaders was convicted for committing war crimes during the country's 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan. JeI and other groups are widely believed to have instigated the current spate of violence.

"The situation in Bangladesh is getting worse by the day. The demands of the protesters to President Obama and American lawmakers to stop the violence in Bangladesh are urgent for not only the safety of Bangladeshis, but U.S. security interests in the region." said Jay Kansara, HAF Associate Director. "Bangladesh has witnessed increasing religious fundamentalism for decades to the demise of all its minority communities who have bore the brunt of violent attacks and killings."

Earlier in the day, a small delegation of leaders from BHBCUC and HAF met with Congressional offices to request a hearing on the persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh in the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. The delegation also requested groups perpetrating violence against religious minorities in Bangladesh, like the Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliates, be put on U.S. designated terrorist lists.

Source

NEPAL, April 11, 2013 (BBC): The police force in Nepal has introduced yoga lessons in an effort to slim down some of its heavier members. Officers at the Kathmandu HQ said they were concerned some staff were becoming too fat to carry out their duties.

Obesity is an issue for many of Nepal's male and female officers who, once qualified, often forego the daily physical exercise they had to take to qualify for the force. Many get almost no exercise while working, as their jobs are desk-based. Added to this is the popularity of eating large servings of white rice with every meal, as well as sweets loaded with sugar and milk.

Police spokesman Keshav Adhikari said almost all police stations in Nepal would start offering yoga to their staff. "The police have become inactive because of unnecessary development of their body," he said.

Yoga classes have already begun in both Kathmandu and the east of the country. In the eastern district of Jhapa, more than 70 police officers and constables have been enrolled in a three-week yoga camp. "I have ordered the officers and the constables who have large bellies to join this camp," Senior Superintendent Keshari Raj Ghimire told the BBC.