Source HOUSTON, TEXAS, October 21, 2020 (Houston Chronicle by Bharat Pallod): I grew up in Houston the son of Indian immigrants and now help run the Hindu Heritage Youth Camp. After largely ignoring it for over 30 years, for the past five years, we have included a session on caste — the system of social divisions in India that was…
Source INDIA, October 23, 2020 (Indian Express): Despite the Covid-19 pandemic acting as a dampener for Durga Puja festivities, statue makers and puja organizers across Bengal have kept up with the tradition of bringing unique variants of statues for celebrations this year. After the Calcutta High Court order banned visitors’ entry to pandals, organizers, in last-minute changes, also installed giant…
Source Devotion must not be like the flood of the rainy season in which all get washed away. Devotion should be like the river that retains water even in the hottest season.— Saint Kabir (1440-1518)
Source KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, October 24, 2020 (The Star): Two temples in Kuala Lumpur have been allowed to have up to 50 people in their premises at a time for Navarathri prayers. The temples are Sri Maha Mariamman Temple Dhevasthanam in Jalan Tun HS Lee and Court Hill Sri Ganesar Temple in Jalan Pudu Lama. In a letter dated Oct…
Source KOLKATA, INDIA, October 22, 2020 (The Guardian): Every autumn the streets of Kolkata come alive with the sounds of Durga Puja. The Hindu festival, which celebrates the triumph of good over evil, is marked in West Bengal and neighboring states as a time for dancing, drumming, eating and worship. Yet the festival’s most defining feature is the pandal —…
Source Look at the man who walks on a tight rope. He is performing various tricks, but his mind is only on the rope. So also, we may be doing various things, but our minds must be on God.” –Sri Sri Sri Sivaratnapuri Tiruchi Mahaswamigal (“Trichyswami”) founder of Kailasa Ashram, Bangalore
Source KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, September 26, 2020 (AP News): Afghanistan’s dwindling community of Sikhs and Hindus is shrinking to its lowest levels. With growing threats from the local Islamic State affiliate, many are choosing to leave the country of their birth to escape the insecurity and a once-thriving community of as many as 250,000 members now counts fewer than 700. The…
Source What extracts from the Vedas I have read fall on me like the light of a higher and purer luminary, which describes a loftier course through purer stratum. It rises on me like the full moon after the stars have come out, wading through some far stratum in the sky.— Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American author, poet and philosopher
Source UNITED KINGDOM, October 20, 2020 (Medical Xpress): Electromagnetic energy in the brain enables brain matter to create our consciousness and our ability to be aware and think, according to a new theory developed by Professor Johnjoe McFadden from the University of Surrey. Publishing his theory in the journal Neuroscience of Consciousness, Professor McFadden posits that consciousness is in fact…
Source NEW YORK, NEW YORK, October 9, 2020 (ncronline.org, by Brian Roewe):Faith for Earth: A Call for Action was released Thursday by the U.N. Environment Programme and the Parliament of the World’s Religions during the Faith for Nature Global Conference, held in Skalhol, Iceland. The 57-page book, available online and in print, describes how many religions view the natural world…