Source THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, September 28, 2020 (Deccan Chronicle): The Kerala government on Monday decided to allow only a limited number of devotees to the Sabarimala hill shrine during the annual pilgrimage season including Makaravilakku. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that notwithstanding the restrictions imposed on the number of devotees, all rituals and ceremonies at the temple will be held as…
Source Your heart is the temple where God should be enshrined. Your good thoughts are the flowers, your good words the hymns, your good deeds the rituals. And love is the offering.— Mata Amritanandamayi Ma, Kerala-based hugging saint and Hinduism Today’s Hindu of the Year 1993
Source KATHMANDU, NEPAL, September 29, 2020 (Washington Post): The old palace courtyard packed with hundreds of thousands of people each year during the Indrajatra festival is deserted, the temples are locked and all public celebrations are banned by the government to curb the coronavirus. Autumn is the festival season in predominantly Hindu Nepal, where religion, celebrations and rituals are big…
Source MADURAI, INDIA, August 17, 2020 (YouTube): Madurai, Tamil Nadu on the banks of the Vaigai River is Tamil Nadu’s second largest city and possibly the oldest. The Meenakshi Amman temple is a wonder of art and architecture and one of the largest temples in South India. The towering outer gopurams are Madurai’s distinctive landmarks–these pyramid shaped gateways are embellished…
Source Anger is nothing but an attachment for an object, when expressed towards an obstacle between ourselves and the object of our attachment.— Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), founder of Chinmaya Mission
Source UNITED KINGDOM, September 27, 2020 (The Guardian): Carried out by teams of researchers from Berlin, Bath and Franche-Comte in eastern France, it found that out-and-proud omnivores, those who eat meat without any restrictions, are for the first time a minority in Germany. Around 42% of those questioned said they were deliberately reducing their consumption of meat in some form,…
Source Why does a vijnani (enlightened person) keep an attitude of love toward God? The answer is that ‘I-conciousness’ persists. It disappears in the state of samadhi, no doubt, but it comes back. In the case of ordinary people the ‘I’ never disappears. You may cut down the ashwattha tree, but the next day sprouts shoot up.— Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa…
Source INDIA, September 26, 2020 (Veda Kosh): A complete version of the four Vedas in original Sanskrit and Hindi translation has been published as a google doc at “source” above. The same is also available at http://www.VedaKosh.com. The project was begun in 2012. At the time, Virendra Agarwal (virendra.agarwal@vedicgranth.org), the organizer behind this effort writes: “With immense content, I wish…
Source KAUAI, HAWAII, September 18, 2020: “Indians Love Pilgrimage,” just published at “source” above, is the fourteenth song in Hinduism Today’s History of Hindu India Music Video series. It is a song for children intended to complement the fifth chapter of our popular History of Hindu India documentaries, “21st Century India.” The documentaries and songs neatly supplement the study of…
Source UNITED KINGDOM, September 22, 2020 (Dezeen): The next Open House London documentary offers a glimpse of Neasden Temple, a place of worship in northwest London that was built using ancient Hindu texts and 26,000 pieces of stone. Filmed by Jim Stephenson, the documentary is one of nine videos that will feature on Dezeen throughout Open House London 2020 to…