JAFFNA, SRI LANKA, June, 2021 (monsoonjournal.com): HPI note: This comprehensive four-page article is available in PDF form at “source” below, pages 38 to 41. An excerpt: One of the most well-known identity markers of Jaffna, widely used by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau as an emblem of the region, is the Nallur Kandaswamy Temple. It shows up well in…
At “source” below is a charming 9 minute video on the daily routine and work of the small group of silpis–temple stone carvers–presently completing the all-stone Iraivan Temple on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, USA. Enjoy hearing them tell their own story of working far from home on the America’s first all-granite Hindu temple founded by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami and…
Man arrives at immortality by breaking beyond the limitations not only of his physical self, but of his mental and his ordinary psychic nature into the highest plane and supreme ether of the Truth: for there is the foundation of immortality and the native seat of the triple infinite. Sri Aurobindo (1879-1950)
CHENNAI, INDIA, May 12, 2021 (Atlas Obscura): Vaidyanatha Selvanathan Sthapati, 57, says he grew up in the pattarai (workshop) of his uncle, who taught him to be curious and observant, as nature was the inspiration for art and the work their family did. Before his death in 2011, Selvanathan’s uncle, Vaidyanatha Ganapathi Sthapati, was a prominent temple architect. Today, it…
HYDERABAD, INDIA, May 28, 2021 (India Today): On May 23, Tamil Nadu’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran asked the 44,227 temples under his control to come clean on their finances. A circular was sent out mandating that audited accounts will have to be updated on the HR&CE website from this year. “Several provisions of the HR&CE…
TORONTO, CANADA, May 30, 2021 (BlogTO): Residents of the Great Toronto Area looking to scatter the funeral ashes of their loved ones will soon have a designated site to do so along a beautiful river near Toronto. More than 65 percent of Ontarians and Canadians in general are thought to opt for cremation after they shuffle off this mortal coil,…
KATHMANDU, NEPAL, March 16, 2020 (NY Times): Yoga will soon be more than an extracurricular activity in Nepal. Next month, when the new academic term begins, this small Himalayan country will become the first in the world to make it a required subject nationwide. Hundreds of thousands of elementary and junior high students will enroll in a new, weekly yoga…
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, April 2, 2021 (New India Express): While the BJP, in its election manifesto, has promised an Uttar Pradesh model law against forceful religious conversion and love jihad in Kerala to woo Hindu and Christian voters, the data sourced by TNIE from the government gazettes paint an altogether different picture. According to official figures for the year 2020, the…
ALABAMA. U.S., May 24, 2021 (NY Post): Alabama has lifted an almost 28-year ban on yoga being taught in public schools — but it’s still outlawing chanting, mantras like “Om” and the traditional greeting “Namaste.” The state banned yoga in December 1993 because lawmakers deemed it a “Hindu philosophy and method of religious training.” But Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation…
RANCHI, INDIA, May 24, 2021 (New Indian Express): In a first of its kind decision taken by any corporate house, Jamshedpur-based steel Tata Steel has rolled out a social security scheme for its employees, under which, nearest kin of an employee who dies of Covid, will get the last drawn salary till 60 years of age of the deceased along…