Source BANGKOK, THAILAND, October 25, 2017 (by Oscar Holland, Kocha Olarn, CNN) Preparations for the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s cremation have been underway for the past year. In an old and cluttered studio outside Bangkok, sculptor Chatmongkol Insawang has been hard at work carefully shaping the trunk of the elephant-headed god, Phra Phikanet (the Thai name for Ganesha). The…
Source THAILAND, October 26, 2017 (Manila Bulletin): A sea of black-clad mourners massed across Bangkok’s historic heart early Thursday as funeral rituals began for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a revered monarch whose passing after a seven-decade reign has left Thailand bereft of its only unifying figure. As dawn broke an estimated 200,000 Thais had gathered around the Grand Palace to bid…
Source The secret of the true life is to remain still in the midst of activity and vibrantly awake while in meditation.— Dada Vaswani, Sindhi spiritual leader, head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission and nonagenarian
Source LOUISIANA, USA (vox.com): Neutron stars are very strange objects. They’re the leftovers of stars that have collapsed in on themselves (i.e., gone supernova). They’re extremely dense. Imagine an object that has the same mass as the sun but is only 15 miles in diameter. That’s 333,000 times the mass of the entire Earth squished into a ball roughly the…
Source HYDERABAD, INDIA, October 18, 2017 (Hindustan Times): The Telangana government will offer US$4,570 for women who marry Brahmin bachelors working as temple priests from next month, a senior state official has said. Arranged marriages for young Brahmin men working as temple priests have become difficult since women and their families choose men with fatter pay cheques, officials said, explaining…
Source Do not be proud of wealth, people, relations and friends, or youth. All these are snatched by time in the blink of an eye. Giving up this illusory world, know and attain the Supreme.— Adi Shankara, 9th century Indian philosopher and saint
Source KATHMANDU, NEPAL, October 19, 2017 (Kaumudi): Dogs in Nepal are being worshiped on the second day of Tihar festival on Wednesday. The second day of Tihar is known as “Kukur (Dog) Tihar”, the day of dogs. The dogs that are regarded as guardian and messenger of Yama are offered garlands, breads and are worshiped with vermilion powder and flowers.…
Source UNITED KINGDOM, October 18, 2017 (Press release): Prime Minister Theresa May sends her best wishes to everyone celebrating Diwali in Britain and around the world. “While Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists will all celebrate in their own way this week, the underlying message of Diwali–and its timeless values of duty and service–will resonate with people of all faiths and…
Source In a day when you don’t come across any problems, you can be sure that you are traveling in the wrong path.— Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), disciple of Sri Ramakrisha
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 22, 2017 (Wall Street Journal): The Yamuna is considered a sacred river from very early times. The river system is so beautiful. But we in our greed, go and spoil this system. In Delhi, it is not water anymore, it is sewage. Sureshwar Sinha, 83, swam in the pristine waters of the Yamuna in New…