Source WASHINGTION, D.C., US, May 21, 2016 (Times of India by Chidanand Rajghatta): India has survived in California school textbooks. Nothing calamitous was going happen to the country itself, but a pedagogical and academic battle over use of the term “India” over “South Asia” has been resolved to the satisfaction of overseas Indian nationalistic groups and Indophiles. At the heart…
Source CALIFORNIA, May 17, 2016 (Press Trust of India): A group of 41 prominent scholars, including several Indian-Americans from across the US have written to the California Department of Education opposing proposals to change “India” to “South Asia” in the state text books.Signed by distinguished academics such as Barbara McGraw of Saint Marys College of California, Diana Eck of Harvard…
Source If you would walk the way of love, never feel hurt nor yield to anger, but accept pain as a part of life.— Dada J.P. Vaswani, spiritual head of Sadhu Vaswani Mission
Source NEW YORK, USA, May 11, 2016 : Hindu Students Council (HSC), the largest Hindu youth organization in North America, will be hosting its 25th Annual Camp at the Shanti Mandir, in Walden, NY. HSC, which hosted a successful Global Dharma Conference featuring over 55 world renowned speakers and performers in September 2015, will conclude its Silver Jubilee celebrations at…
Source UNITED STATES, May 8, 2016 (The Chronicle of Higher Education by Prof. Arvind Sharma, McGill University): I should respond to Wendy Doniger’s essay (“The Repression of Religious Studies,” April 29, 2016, Chronicle of Higher Education, behind paywall) because I am the “Hindu” whose entry on Hinduism was substituted for her own by Microsoft Encarta in 2003. As it was…
Source He cannot be seen by the eye, and words cannot reveal Him. He cannot be reached by the senses, or by austerity or sacred actions. By the grace of wisdom and purity of mind, He can be seen, indivisible, in the silence of contemplation. This invisible Atman can be seen by the mind wherein the five senses are resting.—…
Source MONTREAL, CANADA, May 15, 2016 (invitation from the conference convenor, Dr. Arvind Sharma): Most people remember where they were and what they were doing when they first heard the news of the aerial assault on the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001. The ground may not have shifted under our feet at the moment but…
Source WASHINGTON, USA, May 13, 2016 (by Emil Guillermo, NBC News): On May 9, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would remove the word “Oriental” from the last known laws in the United States Code where it applies to a person. Now the bill is on its way to President Obama for final approval. The legislation changes two laws…
Source ARIZONA, USA, May 12, 2016 (YogaDork): A recent study found that yoga, yes yoga, is better at keeping your memory sharp than all those puzzles and brain training apps you download to try and “exercise” the old noodle. In the “more good news” department, yoga was also found to relieve depression and anxiety in people who practiced regularly. The…
Source Only in the depth of pure silence can we hear God’s voice. Silence is like an upright empty glass that is capable of being filled with, and retaining, the water of knowledge.— Mata Amritanandamayi Ma,