ca.reuters.com

KATHMANDU, NEPAL, March 16, 2008: It was perhaps the last public act of a jaded 240-year-old monarchy. King Gyanendra had appeared at a temple to worship the Hindu God Siva. It was the kind of ritual that once had Nepalis in awe, but now the talking point from once reverential subjects was whether or not their monarch would be stoned. The king strode through a crowd where only last year protesters had stoned his motorcade. He waved, police charged the crowd with batons and he escaped to his car, safe from any flying objects but not from a wave of anti-royalist feelings. “He was God, but due to his actions he has turned into a ghost,” said Ram Prasad Neupane, a 30 year-old Hindu priest outside Pashupatinath temple, where smoke and ash from the wooden pyres of cremated Nepalis hung in the night air.

Traditionally regarded as a reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, King Gyanendra’s days are numbered as Nepal prepares for April constituent assembly elections that will almost certainly abolish the monarchy, sealing a peace deal that ended a decade-long Maoist insurgency. Now confined to his last remaining palace, the 61-year-old king’s downfall highlights Nepal’s changes as it loses its status as the world’s last Hindu state.

Nepalis are embracing political modernity. Maoist former rebels are in parliament. Major parties have promised a republic, seen as heresy only a few years ago. Mobile phone billboards have sprung up around a capital enjoying a building boom.

Many Nepalis in one of the world’s poorest nations feel ambivalent about ending their monarchy, and some even warn of a political backlash by royalist forces unhappy at the looming end of the world’s last Hindu nation.

“The institution of the monarchy is still very important in the rituals of ordinary people.” said Sudhindra Sharma, director of Interdisciplinary Analysts, a respected polling company. “There is lots of room for a backlash in Nepal.”

For the rest of this in-depth article, click source above.

www.hinduismtoday.com

NEW DELHI, March 23, 2008: “There has to be darkness before the dawn; the more prolonged the darkness, more brilliant will be the dawn,” said Shri P. Parameswaran, the All-India President of Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari. He was addressing an assembly of eminent intellectuals of the city on the occasion of Grihapravesham festival (dedication) of Vivekananda Kendra International at Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, on the subject, “The Task Before Us” at a grand function on March 20, 2008.

In an exclusive interview to Hinduism Today, Shri P. Parameswaran said, “Vivekananda Kendra International, New Delhi is our third step. First was Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari and second was Vivekananda Kendra movement which works on a national level. What we propose this center to be is that this should become a center for dialogue with various cultures, religions and civilizations all over the world. So that we can bring about a harmony of civilizations and harmony of cultures and religions. Now people speak of clash of civilizations but that is their point of view. But the Hindu concept is that there should be harmony among the cultures and not conflict. This is what Swami Vivekananda said at Chicago Parliament of Religions also.”

He went on to state, “This is the global mission we have. So far it has been national. Eknath Ranade ji himself wanted that Vivekananda Movement should become an international movement. Swami Vivekananda was one of the earliest spokesperson of Sanatana Dharma.”

According to Shri Parmeswaran, “It is only Hinduism that can promote harmony of religions. Hinduism alone says that there can be various approaches. ‘Ekam sat vipra bahuda vadanti.’ No other religion says this. Only when this message of Hinduism goes out our objective will be achieved. Basically we will be propagating Hinduism only. We want to create a forum at an international level so that the Hindu thought can be spread all over the world. Promotion of Hinduism is our objective.”

He further said, “As a matter of fact, funds have not been a very great problem for us. We believe that every good cause will be supported by the society. When we wanted to set up the memorial, we had no funds with us. Shri Eknath Ranade came and said that this should be a people’s memorial. It is not for individuals with a lot of money. It is not their generosity that should make it possible. It is the generosity of the people that should make it possible. So the one rupee coupons were printed at a large scale and were distributed at schools and colleges everywhere. Through those coupons in the late sixties a sum of US$213,000 was collected.”

Sri Parameswaran concluded by saying, “So far we have not had any of our projects suffer due to want of money. If the cause is correct and right type of people are there, then the money comes. There is a beautiful sentence which Swami Vivekananda said- ‘Money and everything I want must come because they are my slaves and I am not their slave.’ “

Housed in a 32,000 square feet area in the prestigious diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri, built at an estimated cost of US$2.5 million, Vivekananda Kendra International will continue the work that Swami Vivekananda initiated at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, 1893, at Chicago in the genre of Inter-Civilizational Dialogue. The two blocks of five-storied buildings at the center will have facilities like seminar halls, a meditation hall, an exhibition hall, a library and an auditorium.

Earlier in the day, elaborate house warming Poojas were conducted in the premises led by Shri Khandeshwar of Saraswat tradition.

By Rajiv Malik, HPI Correspondent India/South Asia

www.hinduismtoday.com

KAUAI, HAWAII, March 23, 2008: In our research on “crossing the ocean” as an offense which causes loss of caste, the question has come up if there is any parallel in another religion. Does any other religion restrict a priest or a follower from leaving an area considered holy, or restrict the means of travel, such as by sea? If you have any insight on the issue in other faiths, kindly e-mail ar@hindu.org.

www.hinduismtoday.com

In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit man’s stupidity.