Source MOSCOW, RUSSIA, January 10, 2017 (Radio Free Europe): A Russian yoga teacher has been forced into the role of spiritual warrior in the face of charges he was missionizing in violation of a controversial new law. Computer programmer Dmitry Ugay was detained by police in St. Petersburg on October 22 while giving a talk at a festival about the…
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 10, 2017 (The Statesman): Pongal is a four-day harvest festival of Tamil Nadu which commences from the last day of Tamil month Margazhi. Crops like rice, sugarcane, turmeric, etc are harvested during this month. The term Pongal in Tamil means “to boil” and it is the only Hindu festival which follows a solar calendar. In…
Source NOIDA, INDIA, January 9, 2017 (The National): Outside their workshop, a raucous debate rages on whether India should spend half-a-billion dollars on a statue to honor a 17th century Hindu warrior. Inside, the two men sculpting the bronze figure work in silence in their vast, high-ceilinged studio outside New Delhi. “Is there a controversy about it?” asks Anil Sutar,…
Source When we encounter wickedness in others, let us be compassionate, for truly there is no intrinsic evil. — Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001)
Source KARACHI, PAKISTAN, January 7, 2017 (Pakistan Christian Post): The Governor of Sindh, Saeeduzzaman Siddique, refuses to ratify the forced conversion bill passed by Sindh Assembly in November 2016 following protests by MQM, JI and other Muslim religious parties. Religious minorities here say they have lost confidence in so-called moderate Muslim political groups also. The Forced Conversion Bill was presented…
Source When we think about someone, we’re sending a thought form to that person, and that thought form is affecting them. If it is a positive, uplifting thought, it affects them in a positive, uplifting way. If it is a critical thought, it affects them in a negative way. — Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today
Source KAUAI, HAWAII, January 6, 2017 (WordPress by Manu): My parents and I are spending the first two weeks of 2017 in Kauai, Hawaii. A large part of my identity which is masked in my daily life is visible here–my Hindu identity, that is. Each time my family returns to the island, it’s a pilgrimage of sorts. The Kauai Aadheenam,…
Source KATMANDU, NEPAL, January 4, 2017 (Kathmandu Post): Fourteen statues and two conch shells which were stolen from the Chandannath Temple in Jumla district headquarters Khalanga on November 26 were found at Depalgaun-2 in the district on Tuesday. Local women had spotted the statues at Rokayawada while they were going to the forest to collect firewood. One of them immediately…
Source Japa, austerities, observances, pilgrimage, sacrifice, charity–all these become a mere waste without understanding the guru tattva. — Kularnava Tantra 24
Source CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, USA (HPI): Varun Khanna, assistant professor of Sanskrit Grammar (Vyakarana) at the new Chinmaya University at Adi Sankara Nilayam in Veliyanad, Ernakulum, Kerala, is offering a Sanskrit course by Webinar tentatively to start February 5, 2017. He writes: “This Webinar is for people who want an introduction from scratch to Sanskrit in an easy and systematic way…