www.bernama.com.my KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 23, 2008: Over a million Hindu devotees thronged temples across the country in celebrating Thaipusam today. In Kuala Lumpur, 500,000 devotees and tourists made a beeline to the Sri Mariaman temple in Batu Caves in celebrating the three-day festival, which began yesterday. Up to noon, traffic heading towards Batu Caves was mostly at a crawl…
www.newsweek.com NEW YORK, USA, January 24, 2008: (HPI note: this is an article from the latest issue of NEWSWEEK, January 28, 2008.) Reincarnation is an increasingly mainstream belief. Madonna has said she’s a believer. So has Kate Hudson. According to a 2003 Harris poll, 40 percent of people aged 25 to 29 believed they would return to earth in a…
www.todayonline.com KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 21, 2008: Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi declared a popular Hindu festival a public holiday on Sunday, in an olive branch to the ethnic Indian community following months of dissent. The Thaipusam festival, during which devotees pierce their bodies with hooks and skewers, attracts more than a million people each year at Kuala Lumpur’s…
timesofindia.indiatimes.com GUJARAT, INDIA, January 19, 2008: Addressing students in the Gujarat Vidyapith, the Dalai Lama said “It is a great honour for me to be in the institute which was founded by Matama Gandhi himself. I am a follower of Gandhi and a great admirer of his. Though I have never had the chance to meet Gandhi, in my dreams,…
indiatoday.digitaltoday.in NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 17, 2008: In December last year, All India Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Council, a Sufi organisation, led a peace march to Parliament, holding placards that read: “Islam says killing of one innocent is killing of humanity. Sufi Corridor can play an important role in establishing peace and unity.” Despite the overly idealistic veneer, it marks an…
www.ddinews.gov.in NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 19, 2008: The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a traditional circumambulation of the sacred Mount Kailas, this year will be more costly. As Kumaon Mandal Viakash Nigam, the agency running the Yatra, has increased the charges from Rs 15,500 to 19,000 per pilgrim this year, its Divisional Manager G.N. Pandey said. The government of India approved the…
in.reuters.com BANGALORE, INDIA, January 18, 2008: A Hindu monk who ignored a taboo against travelling abroad was anointed on Friday as the head priest of a popular temple in the pilgrim town of Udipi in Karnataka, despite opposition by conservative religious leaders. Sugunendra Teertha had travelled to the United States and Europe to promote Hinduism. This upset some orthodox Brahmins…
www.hindu.com COIMBATORE, INDIA, January 19, 2008: Mata Amritanandamayi Devi arrived in Coimbatore on Thursday, to attend the Brahmasthanam Temple festival organised on January 18 and 19 at Nallampalayam. According to a press release, the two-day program will include satsang, bhajans, meditation and darshan, for the benefit of Mata’s devotees. Pujas, Special pujas (Lalita Sahasranama) to mitigate the influences of Rahu…
www.nytimes.com KUANTAN, MALAYSIA, January 19, 2008: Rising prices for cooking oil are forcing some residents of Mumbai, India, to ration every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built to convert vegetable oil into diesel sit idle, their owners unable to afford the raw material. This is the other…
www.economist.com LONDON, UK, January 17, 2008: “What does a moral person do, given all the problems and suffering in the world? How do you focus?” Larry Brilliant illustrates how difficult this is by recalling a friend’s struggle to decide how best to allocate a few rupees among the beggars waiting to die in the Hindu sacred city of Benares, in…