Unauthorized Temples Problem in Patna

SourcePATNA, INDIA, November 19, 2003: Patna has seen some instances of people grabbing public land by installing a Hanuman icon there. But the government is not taking any action against them. And when it does, it’s of no use. One person decided to install a life-sized image of Lord Hanuman in front of the Patna planetarium. When the authorities complained,…

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Government Suspends Elephant Transportation

The HinduNEW DELHI, INDIA, November 18, 2003: The Centre today asked the Tamil Nadu Government to suspend transportation of elephants, belonging to temples, mutts and the Forest department, to the rejuvenation camp in the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary until the matter was reviewed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The Centre’s action comes in the wake of media reports…

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Experts Reflect On How Yoga Changed Their Lives

Religion News ServiceWASHINGTON, D.C., November 17, 2003: It’s the great American question: What’s the return on my investment? Stephen Cope sought to answer it on the subject of yoga, putting the question to 25 of the top yoga and meditation teachers in this country and Canada in his book “Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life?” “As I look…

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Captain Nemo a Hero in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

HPIUSA, November 20, 2003: Several readers wrote to inform us that Captain Nemo, a Hindu character in the film “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” is, in fact, a hero in the film. Sara Kobuszko writes, “I would like to set the story straight regarding Captain Nemo’s role in the film. Having seen it for myself last week, I can firmly deny…

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Contemporary Art Exhibition in Illinois

SourceOAK BROOK, ILLINOIS, November 20, 2003: Peter Louis (“source”) presents an exhibition of contemporary Indian art featuring some of India’s new artists, as well as limited edition crystal sculptures of Hindu deities December 5 – 7 at the The Wyndham Drake Hotel, 2301 York Road, Oak Brook, IL 60523. Featuring the “Meditations on Ganapati” series by Raghava KK and other…

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Ganesha Drinking Milk Again, in Africa

SourceBOTSWANA, AFRICA, November 9, 2003: As they went around the shrine, devotees whispered an invocation, prostrated to Lord Ganesha, poured milk into a spoon and placed it over His mouth. The milk disappeared. This was the scene at Maruapula Temple last Thursday when members of the Botswana Hindu Society in Gaborone went to feed milk to Ganesha, reports this article.…

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Kabul Hindus Face Obstacles to Cremations

SourceKABUL, AFGHANISTAN, November 5, 2003: Kabul’s Hindu and Sikh communities are finding it hard to hold funerals because local residents object to open-air cremations. Despite the objections, Afghanistan’s religious affairs ministry has promised to let Sikhs and Hindus reclaim their traditional sites and use them to cremate the dead. Awtar Singh, who represented the Sikh community at last year’s Loya…

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Schoolyard Mediators Lessen Bullying

Montreal GazetteMONTREAL, CANADA, November 17, 2003: Schoolyard violence can be a problem anywhere. But at one St. Henri elementary school, staff and students decided to do something different about it. Seven years ago, Ludger-Duvernay school began developing a program to train Grade 5 and Grade 6 students as mediators to intervene in small disputes. The program went into effect four…

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Mumbai Government Allows Illegal Temples by Trees to Remain

News ReportMUMBAI, INDIA, November 19, 2003. Roadside shrines that are beneath or alongside trees may escape demolition by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A BMC circular has asked its officers to decide for themselves whether to demolish shrines adjacent to obstructions such as trees. BMC feels that since a tree cannot be hacked, it would continue to pose an obstruction…

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