The American Influence on the Ramakrishna Vedanta Movement

UNITED STATES, July 6, 2024 (India Currents, by Partha Sircar): Some time ago I browsed through a thousand-page tome, The Story of Ramakrishna Mission. What struck me was that three chapters were devoted to the Vedanta movement in America. My initial reaction was that it overstated the influence of America on the Vedanta movement (perhaps another example of our penchant…

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Shivling at Amarnath Cave Shrine Melts

NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 7, 2024 (MSN): The Siva Lingam at the Amarnath cave shrine in the Himalayas has started melting, in just over a week after the yatra to the holy shrine began, due to the ongoing heatwave conditions. The yatra to Amarnath cave shrine began on June 29 this year. The Amarnath Cave, nestled at an altitude of…

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Out of Germany, a Container Lab to Restore 12,000 Ancient Palm-Leaf Manuscripts in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY, INDIA, July 5, 2024 (The Hindu Business Line): Nearly 12,000 age-old palm-leaf manuscripts that contain historic facts stored in Puducherry are getting a new lease of life. To research these invaluable manuscripts, a mobile container lab from Germany landed at Katupalli port at Ennore by container ship Prague Express and reached Puducherry last month. The container lab consists of…

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A Hindu–Sort of…

KAUAI, HAWAII, July 5, 2024 (Hinduism Today, by Fred Stella): In the West, it is entirely possible to run into someone who is not ethnically South Asian yet studies the Bhagavad Gita, meditates with a Sanskrit mantra, is a disciple of a guru, chants bhajans and may even have replaced his or her birth name with Ram or Radhika. However,…

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Cinnamon for Your Well-Being

KAUAI, HAWAII, July 3, 2024 (Hinduism Today, by Lakshmi Sridharan): Cinnamon is one of the most highly valued spices, widely used all over the world for centuries. It is used in cooking, baking and as a flavoring agent for many foods and drinks. Traditional medicine systems around the world, including ayurveda, use extracts from the bark, leaves, flowers, fruits and…

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Avalanche Incident at Gandhi Sarovar, Kedarnath Amidst Pilgrim Surge

KEDARNATH, INDIA, June 20, 2024 (Oneindia): An avalanche occurred early Sunday morning on June 30th near Gandhi Sarovar in Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath, a famed pilgrimage destination with hundreds of thousands of visitors. The avalanche struck a hill about 2.5 miles away from the Kedarnath temple around 5 am. Authorities quickly informed that there were no casualties or damage to property. Senior…

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Local Bears Enjoy Temple Offerings

INDIA, July 4, 2023 (Hindu Human Rights): About 62 miles away from Raipur, exists a temple of Mata Chandi which is besieged by dense forest. What makes this temple special is that, every evening, when aarati worship is over, bears from the forest visit & many people offer prasad to these wild bears. The temple is situated in Ghunchapali village…

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Local Urumee Melam Team Drumming up Thaipusam Spirit for Kavadi-Bearers Since 1999

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 25, 2024 (Malaysia News): During Thaipusam, thousands of people fill the streets to watch the kavadi aattam — a frenetic dance performed by kavadi-bearers — to fulfill their religious vows to Lord Murugan. The kavadi-bearer gyrates as a group of drummers render devotional songs while fervently thumping the urumee — an hourglass-shaped double-headed drum — with…

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