Source TIRUVANNAMALAI INDIA, November 8, 2017 (The Hindu): This Karthigai Deepam (December 2), devotees will not be allowed to climb up the Annamalai Hills in Tiruvannamalai during the festival of Karthigai Deepam which attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers. Collector K.S. Kandasamy said this decision was taken keeping in mind the safety of devotees. “Every year, at least five to…
Source How can one realize that which alone is real? All we need to do is to give up our habit of regarding as real that which is unreal. Reality alone will remain, and we will be That.— Sri Ramana Maharishi (1879-1950), South Indian mystic
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 12, 2017 (Le Temps, translated from French): In Murugavel Janakiraman’s office, drawings of his daughter are pinned next to the family photos. He proudly presents the portraits of his children Arjun and Anisha, his mother, who lives under his roof, and Deepa, his wife, whom he married through Matrimony.com, the most popular matrimonial site in…
Source It is impossible for me to reconcile with the idea of conversion as it happens today. It is an error and perhaps the greatest impediment to the world’s progress toward peace. Why should a Christian want to convert a Hindu? Why should he not be satisfied if the Hindu is a good or godly man?— Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Source SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, November 10, 2017: After more than a decade of constructive civic engagement with the California Department of Education, the Hindu American community won a significant victory yesterday in its quest for an accurate, equitable, and culturally competent portrayal of Hinduism and India in California textbooks. In its final public hearing, the Department’s State Board of Education (SBE)…
Source BANGLADESH, November 11, 2017 (Outlook India): A mob of protesters has set on fire to at least 30 houses of Hindus in Bangladesh following rumors that a youth from the minority community published an offensive Facebook status, media reports said today. One person was killed when police opened fire to disperse the crowd that launched the arson attack on…
Source Attach yourself to Him who is free from all attachments. Bind yourself to that bond so all other bonds may be broken.— Tirukkural 350
Source INDIA, November 6, 2017 (Swarajyamag by Swami Venkataraman): In April 2016, a more than 1,000-year-old temple, built by Rajendra Chola-I in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, was pulled down by the state government in the name of renovation. The government said the temple was only dismantled and would be put together again. In May 2010, the temple tower of…
Source JAKARTA, INDONESIA, November 7, 2017 (Reuters): Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday affirmed the rights of devotees of faiths outside the country’s officially recognized religions, in a move activists welcomed as a “new chapter for religious freedom”. Against a backdrop of rising intolerance toward minorities in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, the court said Indonesians would not be required to…
Source Arise, awake! Stop not till the goal is reached.— Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), disciple of Sri Ramakrisha