GO TO SOURCE SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, June 19, 2002: Mark Morford, columnist for SFgate.com, reported that during dreary rush hour traffic on Highway 12, a large, black, gas guzzling SUV slowed down slightly to allow two small cars to merge into the lane ahead of it without the driver feeling the need to blare his horn or swerve angrily or…
GO TO SOURCE USA, June 28, 2002: The supermarket and fast-food industries unveiled their first comprehensive guidelines for the humane treatment of farm animals, recommending that farmers curtail such practices as starving hens to make them lay more eggs, housing pregnant pigs in crates so small they cannot fully lie down and slaughtering some animals before they are fully unconscious.…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, June 30, 2002: Jay Lakhani of the Vivekananda Centre London writes to Hindu Press International that he has received this request from Dr. T. H. Chowdary, Information Technology Advisor for the Government of Andhra Pradesh (e-mail: thc@satyam.comIndia). “We are delighted that you are teaching Hinduism in London. You are doing a great job for Bharat…
GO TO SOURCE PUERTO RICO, June 30, 2002: The Vedanta Society of Puerto Rico informs HPI that the just announced visit of Swami Pareshanandaji, the director of Ramakrishna mission Ashram in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been canceled. For upcoming programs of the society, e-mail “source” above.
GO TO SOURCE SAN FRANCISCO, USA, June 29, 2002: A well crafted editorial commentary by Mark Morford, SF Gate columnist has raised some interesting issues about the United States “Pledge of Allegiance” with it’s suddenly controversial phrase “under God” and bipartisan opinion about prayer in schools. A judge just recently ruled the pledge was unconstitutional, because it violated the US…
GO TO SOURCE CLEVELAND, OHIO, June 27, 2002: In a landmark church-state case, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a controversial Cleveland program that allows parents to use taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their children to religious schools. If the parents do not want to send their child to public school, they are provided a “voucher” worth perhaps $2,500 which…
GO TO SOURCE SINGAPORE, June 29, 2002: The Hindu Centre Singapore is pleased to announce that a third class will be commencing for the “Introduction to Hinduism” course for youths and adults. There will be one two-hour class each week for 14 weeks, commencing July 6. Students should be 17 years old and above. 120 pages of reading material will…
GO TO SOURCE TRINCOMALEE, SRI LANKA, June 5, 2002: For the first time since 1983, pilgrims could undertake the arduous six-week pada yatra or foot pilgrimage to Kataragama, the ancient shrine to Lord Muruga. Sinhalese and foreign devotees as well as ardent Tamil devotees from Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya and Trincomalee reached the first leg in Trincomalee. Vallimalai Balananda Sadhu, bears…
GO TO SOURCE SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, June 21, 2002: Chitresh Das is renowned all over India for his mastery of kathak. In 1971, at 26, he arrived in the US on a Whitney Fellowship to teach kathak — a northern India style of dance — at the University of Maryland. Now 57, he runs six kathak dance schools in the…
GO TO SOURCE CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, June 26, 2002: The successor to the present Rajaguru of the Royal Government of Thailand is all set to undergo training in different subjects such as purohitam, karmakanda, sastras, Sanskrit and Tamil at Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswamahavidyalaya at Enathur near Kanchipuram. The 12-year-old brahmin boy is currently on a visit to Chennai along with…