Source KERALA, INDIA, April 27, 2016 (The Hindu): With an eye on public safety and prevention of cruelty to elephants, the Social Forestry Division has disallowed the use of the animals for non-ritualistic practices in the district. An application by the Mukkolakkal Sree Mahaganapathy Temple in Mannanthala to parade 12 elephants at its annual festival in May was turned down…
Source SOUTH AFRICA, April 27, 2016 (Arya Samaj, SA): The Arya Samaj SA, celebrated ninety years of its founding recently at the Durban Exhibition Centre, with dignitaries from government and international visitors attending. The chief guest, Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, emphasized the key role that civil society has to play in strengthening any democracy. “Organisations like the Arya Pratinidhi…
Source INDIA, April 21, 2016 (Swarajya Magazine by Swami Venkataraman): The Hindu sacred texts clearly relate varnas to the guna i.e., behavior and character, rather than the birth. The argument against the notion that a hierarchical caste system is “divinely inspired” and “intrinsic” to Hinduism is powerful and profound. The 90th Sukta of the 10th mandala in the Rig Veda,…
KERALA, INDIA, APRIL 27, 2016 (by J. K Bajaj, CPS, India): Like Assam, West Bengal, Purnia and Santhal Pargana region of Bihar and Jharkhand, parts of Western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Mewat of Haryana and Rajasthan, and many of the States in the northeast–has seen a drastic change in its religious demography in the Census period, beginning from 1901. The…
Source He is the Supreme Brahman, the Self of all, the chief foundation of this world, subtler than the subtle, eternal. That thou art; thou art That.— Atharva Veda, Kaivalya Upanishad
Source CALIFORNIA, USA, April 27, 2016 (by Aseem Shukla, Religion News Service): An open letter to the California Department of Education, signed by a group of academics, many of whom are sympathetic to the Indian left, is threatening to downgrade, and in many cases remove, the terms India and Hinduism from schoolbooks.Two years ago, Hindu and Indian-American groups began working…
Source Anger is nothing but an attachment for an object, when expressed towards an obstacle between ourselves and the object of our attachment.— Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), founder of Chinmaya Mission
Source MADURAi, INDIA, April 22, 2016 (Times of India): V. Thirunavukarasu of Pillaiarpatti in Sivaganga district was appointed junior pontiff of the 1,500-year old Madurai Aadheenam by 292nd pontiff Srila Sri Arunagirinatha Gurugnanasambanda Desika Paramacharya Swamigal on Wednesday. Announcing Thirunavukarasu’s appointment, Arunagirinatha said, “After performing the necessary rituals he was appointed as my successor and will hereafter be called as…
Source PENANG, MALAYSIA, April 22, 2016 (The Star): The annual Chitraparuvam Festival, also known as mini Thaipusam, started at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Queen Street, Penang, with a chariot procession.More than 600 devotees joined in the prayers at the temple at about 6.30pm on Wednesday before the statue of Lord Muruga was placed on the elaborately decorated wooden…
Source KATHMANDU, NEPAL, April 21, 2016 (Global Research by Barbara Nimri Aziz): Nepal has fallen into a troubling, dysfunctional state of normality which has little to do with last year’s earthquake that destroyed villages, leveled temples and schools, killing almost 9,000 people in and around Kathmandu Valley. The county’s capital, a city of four million, needs to awaken from its…