SourceJAMMU, INDIA, September 21, 2003: A grand satsang (religious gathering) was organized today by Sant Ashram Ranjdi, at Satwari in which head of Sant Ashram Swami Madhu Paramhans Ji Maharaj delivered holy sermons. The Swami threw light on the rising rate of corruption in India which has even forced the World Bank to stop its help for various projects in…
SourceUSA, September 9, 2003: M. P. Bhattathiry notified HPI of this item and asks, “Could it be possible that the universe being created in the black hole is akin to one from the sound of Omkar as told in Vedas? Can anyone through some light with references in Vedas or Upanishadas regarding the theory of creation?” The report reads, in…
SourceWASHINGTON, USA, September 20, 2003: Can praying be good for your health? A decade ago, most doctors and scientists would have dismissed any connection between prayer and medicine. However, new studies drawing a positive connection between faith and healing have sparked new debate in the United States over the issue. A recent Gallup poll shows that 95 percent of the…
SourceUSA, September 17, 2003: This year, for the first time ever, Hallmark will sell cards for the Hindu celebration of Deepavali or Diwali, as well as for the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr. “With the increase in the number of Hindus and Muslims, we realized there was an ongoing need that we were not satisfying,” said Deidre Parkes, spokeswoman for…
SourceNORFOLK, NEBRASKA, September 14, 2003: When Reena Patel, daughter of Dr. N.P. and Sudha Patel, recently got married in Norfolk, the family had to bring in a priest from Chicago to perform the traditional Hindu wedding ceremony. The three-day wedding celebration attracted the attention of the local press who wrote this respectful, concise and clear article about the wedding. Traditionally,…
SourceSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, July 8, 2003: An exhibition of about 120 vintage photographs of India in the 19th century is on display at the San Francisco Legion of Honor from September 14, 2003 to February 15, 2004. The “Reverie and Reality, Nineteenth-Century Photographs of India from the Ehrenfeld Collection,” includes the works of Linnaeus Tripe, Samuel Bourne, John Murray, and…
SourceDURBIN, SOUTH AFRICA, September 6, 2003: The President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, spoke at the opening of the Hindu convention in Durban. In his address he said, “The process we are beginning today constitutes a significant development in the evolution of our society. There was a time when it was unthinkable that a religion which, according to the Apartheid…
SourceISRAEL, September 14, 2003: This report, thought apparently five years old, from “We Hold These Truths,” a Christian evangelical website, is especially informative in light of reactions to India’s adopted and proposed laws regulating Christian conversion. The report reads, in part: “Some leaders of the Christian evangelical movement here have agreed to give up spreading the Gospel of Christ in…
SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, September 15, 2003: Swami Gyan Prakash, through his lawyer Amit Khemka, accused the Maharashtra Government of falsely charging him and other innocent saints as the main culprits behind the deadly stampede at Nashik on August 27, 2003 during the Kumbha Mela. Speaking at a Press conference at Press Club of India on Friday, Mr Khemka said that…
SourceMALAYSIA, September 15, 2003: In Malaysia, Muslims come under the Syariah judicial system while non-Muslims come under the civil judicial system. But which system has overriding jurisdiction when a civil marriage breaks up and a spouse converts to Islam? Women’s groups and lawyers recently got together for a discussion hosted by the All Women’s Action Society. Shamala Satiyaseelan got married…