villagevoices.rediffiland.com TAMIL NADU, INDIA, December 26, 2006: In Tamil Nadu during the month of Margazhi which starts on December 15th and ends on January 15th, villagers honor this sacred time of the year by singing daily bhajans. The news release explains, “In the morning women in the village sweep the street in front of their homes and sprinkle it with…
Karthik Subramanian SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, September 12, 2006: (HPI note: In the “better late than never” category, we offer this overlooked report on Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations in Australia last September.) Every year during August – September most Hindus in Australia eagerly ask one question. When is Ganesha Visarjana this year? Of late Ganesha’s pot-bellied grace has extended past the boundaries of…
www.chinmayamission.org CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, USA, January 6, 2007: Chinmaya Mission West has replaced its print edition bi-monthly newsletter with a PDF version distributed by the Internet. To see the first issue, click URL above.
www.samachar.com MAHARASHTRA, INDIA, December 31, 2006: Yoga is relatively more effective than more popular methods like aerobics in treating obesity, according to a study conducted by a reputed yoga institute in Lonavala, Maharashtra. Although both aerobics and yoga were found to be effective in controlling overweight and excessive body fat, yoga was found to be more effective and appropriate than…
www.expressindia.com MOSCOW, RUSSIA, January 4, 2007: Finding an ancient Vishnu Deity in Russia during an excavation in an old village in the Volga region has led to speculation about Russia’s history. The news release says the statue dates back to the 7-10 century ce when Staraya Maini village was a highly populated city. Dr. Alexander Kozhevin, reader of Ulyanovsk State…
www.hssus.org USA, January 6, 2007: The HSS has organized a program to have 5,000 participants complete a total of one million “Surya Namaskars” in 16 days. Surya Namaskar is the Salutation to the Sun sequence of hatha yoga poses. They say the purpose is to: 1) introduce and practice yoga in daily life; 2) promote simple asanas for physical and…
www.ibnlive.com ALLAHABAD, INDIA, January 5, 2006: Security measures were tightened and paramilitary forces deployed at the world’s biggest religious congregation, the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Allahabad on Friday, after a terror warning was received by the intelligence services of Delhi and Mumbai. According to intelligence sources, Jaffer the suspected mastermind behind Mumbai’s 7/11 blasts is in Allahabad posing a serious…
HPI KAUAI, HAWAII, January 6, 2007: Following is a list of major Hindu festivals for 2007 calculated according to the Lahiri Ayanamsa (see here) and for the east coast of the United States. In some years, one or another date may be one day different than the date the festival is celebrated in India. February 15: MahasivaratriMarch 3: HoliMarch 26:…
www.ndtv.com DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, December 24, 2006: East Indians in Durban are delighted to have their very own 24-hour Hindi radio station. From humble beginnings in 1998 when government guidelines only permitted the radio channel to operate for two months a year because it was labeled as a community channel to a full-blown recognized station in 2002, Radio Hindvani is…
www.nytimes.com ALLAHABAD, INDIA, January 3, 2006: Ash-smeared Hindu saints led millions of devotees Wednesday in a pre-dawn holy dip at the meeting of three major rivers in northern India, starting a weeks-long pilgrimage to wash away their sins. Chanting religious hymns, a multitude of men, women and children jumped into the water at 4:54 a.m., a moment chosen as auspicious…