SourceUSA, August 10, 2003: Swami Dheerananda surveyed campers as they gathered before him for story hour, begins this story in the Washington Post. “One day, a group of people wanted to find out the difference between heaven and hell. So they got on a spaceship and zoomed to hell.” The hell that the group encountered, he said, boasted the stuff…
SourceATLANTA, USA, August 15, 2003: The annual Festival of India in Atlanta was inaugurated by the former U.N. ambassador, Andrew Young, on August 15, 2003. The three-day affair is expected to draw thousands of people from nearby cities and states. The Festival of India, considered the flagship event for metro Atlanta’s 50,000 Indian-Americans, also serves to “showcase its culture, heritage,…
SourceGUYANA, August 16, 2003: Jugool Narine (“source” above) writes to HPI: “Shri Prakash Gossai is an internationally renowned Hindu preacher originally from Handsome Tree, Mahaicony, Guyana and now a famous marine biologist in New York. He heads New York’s Bhouveneshwar Mandir. He is now in Guyana performing a series of bhajana satsangs (meetings of spiritual discourse and singing) throughout this…
The Times (London)DELHI, INDIA, August 6, 2003: Monsoon weddings in India are off. Astrologers have declared that the planetary alignment makes it an extremely bad time to tie the knot, so thousands of Hindu brides and grooms are bringing the big day forward, or waiting until much later. The astrologers, backed by the Hindu priests who would perform the rituals,…
SourceRAJAHMUNDRY, ANDRA PRADESH, August 8, 2003: A large number of pilgrims are thronging the replica of Venkateswara temple put up at the Gowtham ghat on the river Godavary. The hundi collections stood at US$12,500, a spokesman of the Tirumala-Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) said on Thursday. He said that the look-alike temple, constructed at a cost of $31,250, was opened to pilgrims…
SourceKERALA, INDIA, August 5, 2003: After her husband abandoned her twenty years ago, Gomathi, a Palghat brahmin, took the advice of an uncle and began to offer her services to bereaved families. Within hours of hearing about the death in a family, Gomathi arrives with a priest, books the crematorium and a hearse, and she even accompanies the body to…
Coventry Evening TelegraphCOVENTRY, U.K., August 11, 2003: Rugby’s mayor has been honoured by members of the Indian community in a traditional Hindu ceremony. Members of the Indian Association visited Councillor Laurie Wright in his parlour on August 8, 2003. The ceremony aimed to celebrate the Indian festival Raksha Bandhan, which takes place on August 12. The festival sees female family…
SourceLOS ANGELES, U.S.A, August 1, 2003: Writing a book about Hinduism was the last thing on Prithvi Raj Singh’s mind when he emigrated to the United States from Hyderabad, India, 32 years ago. A chemical engineer by training, Singh became preoccupied with the subject: How would he teach his American-born children about Hinduism? His answer came in the form of…
SourceSRINIGAR, INDIA, August 14, 2003: The annual pilgrimage which witnessed a record number of two hundred thousand yatris (pilgrims) from all over the country, concluded at Pahalgam after last rituals were performed today. The last rituals — Pujan and Visarjan — were performed on the bank of River Lidder at Pahalgam by Mahant Deependra Giri today. Large number of sadhus…
Times News NetworkMAHARASHTRA, INDIA, August 12, 2003: The state government has decided to issue an ordinance to dissolve the existing board of trustees of Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi. The trust has funds worth around US$32 million. Minister for law and judiciary Govindrao Adik, a Congress legislator from Ahmednagar district, sought to introduce a bill in the last session of…