HAWAII, USA, July 1, 2025 (Hinduism Today press release): We have to admit–it wasn’t difficult to decide on the feature story for the July, 2025, issue of Hinduism Today. The 660 million pilgrims (twice the population of the US) who streamed into Prayag for the Kumbha Mela captured headlines across India and around the world. The timing posed a challenge for our reporting: it was too late for the April issue, and July felt too far off. By then, everyone would have already read about the major events. So we chose a different angle: to delve into the Kumbh’s spiritual essence, with interviews of saints and a special focus on the women’s experience of bathing in the Ganga. For it we gathered a remarkable team of three photographers and journalists.
Everyone’s talking these days about artificial intelligence, which inspired Bodhinatha in his Publisher’s Desk to talk about unlocking through meditation our built-in and more reliable higher intuition. The Insight section is from our on-going series on Hindu festivals, this time covering the Hindu New Year in April, Krishna Jayanti, Holi, Vaikunta Ekadashi, Skanda Shasti and Sankranti (aka Pongal). Each celebration brings its own spiritual focus, inspiring and energizing devout Hindus around the world.
Though the Kumbh dominates the issue, we made room for several extraordinary stories. The previous issue’s report on the installation of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya noted the presence of a large contingent of devotees who came from Janakapur in Nepal—the site of Ram and Sita’s wedding. Inspired by that, we sent reporter Nikki Thapa there to tell the story of Sita’s famed birthplace.
Temples were also central to two other stories: the famed Siddhivinayaka Temple in Mumbai and the strenuous multi-temple pilgrimage to Girnar Mountain in Gujarat.
On the lighter side, our long-time correspondent Lavina Melwani reported on her exploration of the top-grade vegetarian food to be found in the stalls, restaurants and homes of Hindus across north India. Our short reports in Global Dharma include Hindu events in Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, New Zealand and more. Devansh Agarwal reflects on his devotion to Goddess Kali in In My Opinion. We learn in Did You Know? about the nine sacred grains, navadhany, that are key offerings in many Hindu ceremonies. In our excerpt from scriptures pages is a key section of the Paingala Upanishad in which the teacher Yajnavalky instructs his pupil, Paingala: “Thus, the seeker, having attained self-restraint, should meditate without ceasing on the identity of ‘That’ and ‘Thou.’ As ignorance dissipates, just as the sun shines in full brilliance when the clouds clear, the Self is revealed.”

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