Source UNITED STATES, January 26, 2018 (RNS by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman): I just returned from my first trip to India and Nepal, a soul-stretching pilgrimage that was as much mentally as physically demanding. Along the way, I made my peace with the swastika. Not that swastika, that unrepentant symbol of hate seen most recently on the streets of Charlottesville. No,…
Source NEW YORK, NEW YORK, January 26, 2018 (New York Books, by Kenan Malik): The sun may have long ago set on the British Empire, but it never seems to set on the debate about the merits of empire. The latest controversy began when the Third World Quarterly, an academic journal known for its radical stance, published a paper by…
Source You are here to eat mangoes; not to count the number of leaves in the mango tree.— Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886), guru of Swami Vivekananda
Source WASHINGTON, DC, January 27, 2018 (HAF): Bullying isn’t just being pushed into a locker or intimidated by students at school. Has your teacher singled you out because of your religious background? Have students made fun of your culture? That, too, can be a form of bullying. If anything like this has happened to you, or even if none of…
Source INDIA, December 16, 2017 (Daily O by Devdutt Pattanaik): Who said how a Hindu or any human is supposed to worship the divine? Who made these rules? This question is rooted in Abrahamic myth that frowns upon God being given any form, and the Biblical condemnation of “idolatry” as indicative of a false religion. In the 19th century, as…
Source Sight is very powerful. Sight is the first connection made with the Deity. The sight of the murti in the temple inner sanctum stimulates and enhances the flow of uplifting energies, or pranas, within the mind and body. Each Deity performs certain functions, is in charge of certain pranas. Seeing the Deity there unfolds in the mind’s eye a…
Source FIJI, January 24, 2018 ( by Waisea Nasokia, Fiji Sun):The annual Vaarshika Thaipoosam Thirunaal Festival in Nadi is expected to attract a bigger turnout this year. The 10-day event for Hindu devotees is set for January 25 to February 4 at the Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Thiru Kovil temple. This will be the 92nd edition of the festival. Devasthanam…
Source INDIA, January 22, 2018 (Swarajya): In the run-up to the India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit to be held in New Delhi on the Republic Day (January 26), the on-going Ramayan Festival in the capital has troupes from all ten ASEAN nations – including Muslim majority Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei – taking part in the plays and musicals based in the epic.…
Source Sattvic knowledge sees the one indestructible Being in all beings, the unity underlying the multiplicity of creation. Rajasic knowledge sees all things and creatures as separate and distinct. Tamasic knowledge, lacking any sense of perspective, sees one small part and mistakes it for the whole.— Bhagavad Gita 18:20-22
Source INDIA, January 19, 2018 (National Herald India): A new study has found that high pollution levels contributed to nearly 1.1 million deaths in 2015, or 10.6% of the total number of deaths in India, with “the burden falling disproportionately (75%) on rural areas”. The study raises the alarm that if no action is taken, “population exposures to PM2.5 are…