Linking Ancient and Modern, A Worldwide Web of Worship

www.washingtonpost.com TIRUCHIRAPALLI, INDIA, March 14, 2007: (HPI note: This article appeared in the Washington Post, one of America’s leading newspapers.) Balaji, a Hindu priest, stood before the reclining god and offered a plate of coconut and bananas. His chest bare and his face adorned with red and yellow sacred paste, he set the food at the foot of a statue…

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Malaysia Hindu Sangam: Hindus Should Not Be Forced to go to Islamic Courts

info@hindusangam.org.my KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, March 15, 2007: The Malaysia Court of Appeals recently ruled 2-1 that Subashini, wife of a Muslim-convert seeking to dissolve their marriage and convert their son to Islam, will have to state her case in the Syariah Court. The Malaysia Hindu Sangam President, Datuk A. Vaithilingam, has released the following press release. “With respect, it is…

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Bad Weather Temporarily Stops Vaishno Devi Pilgrimage

sify.com JAMMU, KASHMIR, March 14, 2007: Pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine was stopped on Tuesday with weather conditions turning grim after the season’s first heavy snowfall in Trikuta hills of Jammu and Kashmir. Authorities have also begun evacuating over 5,000 stranded pilgrims at different places en route to the holy cave shrine from Katra in view of severe cold…

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Thousands Of Hindus Vow To End Caste Divide

www.andhracafe.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 10, 2007: Leaders of several social groups from within the Hindu community, the Dalits included, were among the 4,000 who gathered at the open air theater in Pragati Maidan here Friday evening and took a pledge to end the caste divide that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar warned would harm India’s progress in the long run.…

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Demonstration of Digital Photography to Record Palm Leaf Manuscripts

www.himalayanacademy.com KAUAI, HAWAII, March 14, 2007: Under the Hindu kings, palm leaf manuscripts upon which are recorded Hinduism’s scriptures were recopied every 100 years or so to preserve them. Since British times, this process has ceased and existing manuscripts, even in the best-preserved collections, are deteriorating, some already to the point of uselessness. Microfilm is relatively expensive and requires bulky…

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World Congress On Psychology and Spirituality, 2008

worldcongressps2008.org DELHI, INDIA, March 12, 2007: The World Congress on Psychology and Spirituality, 2008 will take place in Delhi beginning on January 5, 2008. Lama Samdhong Rinpoche, Prime Minister of Tibet-in Exile, will give the Inaugural Address on Dharma and Governance, on behalf of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Keynote speakers will include B.K.S. Iyengar, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and…

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Toronto Hindu Leaders Lobbying For Sacred Place To Scatter Ashes, Make Offerings

The Toronto Star TORONTO, CANADA, March 3, 2007: Adrienne Duff noticed them three years ago, drifting in a Brampton branch of the Credit River. Clusters of flowers, plastic statues, coconuts–some still wrapped in plastic–even jewelry and money. “We started receiving calls from landowners, not just on Fletcher’s Creek but also in the main Credit area,” said Duff, a watershed-monitoring specialist…

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Bowing to Sikhs’ Call, California Wants Textbook Change

www.nytimes.com SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, March 12, 2007: The picture on Page 95 of “An Age of Voyages: 1350-1600,” a seventh-grade history book used in California schools since last fall, had been unremarkable to state education officials: a stiff 19th-century portrait of a man with a trimmed beard holding a few beads and wearing a crown. But for Sikhs, that image of…

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A Pictorial Biography Of Dr. Karan Singh Launches On His 76th Birthday

Rajiv Malik, HPI Correspondent NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 12, 2007: “Karan Singh : A Tryst With History, a Pictorial Biography” was launched with grand fanfare by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, India’s Union Minister For External Affairs, in the Rose Gardens of New Delhi’s India International Center on Friday, March 9, the 76th birthday of Dr. Karan Singh. In his foreword to…

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Time Magazine Posts Kumbha Mela Photo Essay

www.time.com ALLAHADAD, INDIA, March 9, 2007: Time magazine photographer Prashant Panjiar has documented the recently held Ardh Kumbha Mela in a series of stunning black and white photos. The festival lasts 45 days at the confluence of three holy rivers, the Ganges, Yamuna and the esoterically mystical Saraswati. An estimated 70 million pilgrims gathered for this year’s festival and Panjiar’s…

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