July 18, 2024 (new18.com): Guru Purnima is a festival that is dedicated to spiritual and academic gurus, who are offered respect all across the world. It is celebrated in India, Nepal and Bhutan by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists. Traditionally, the day honors the chosen spiritual teachers or leaders. It is celebrated on the full moon day of Ashadh month. This…
PURI, INDIA, July 15, 2024 (The Hindu): Thousands of devotees pulled the chariots of sibling Deities — Lord Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra — on the Bahuda Yatra or return car festival on July 15. Though the pulling of chariots was slated to start at 4 p.m., it began ahead of schedule amid chants of Jai Jagannath and the…
UNITED STATES, July 9, 2024 (Religion News Service): Every day since March, 63-year-old Ranjani Saigal has posted a 90-second Instagram reel. “I’m not a social media person,” said Saigal, who goes by “The Hindu Grandma” on Instagram. “I didn’t know what a reel was, I didn’t know what TikTok was, any of that. Like many other grandparents, I was like,…
BHOPAL, INDIA, July 15, 2024 (Indian Express): The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) Monday submitted its survey report on the disputed Bhojshala temple-cum-Kamal Maula mosque complex in Dhar district to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, stating that the scientific investigation reveals that the “existing structure was made from the parts of earlier temples.” The court had in March last year…
UNITED STATES, July 11, 2024 (The Atlantic): Anthony Bourdain was beloved for his openness to new experiences, for his willingness to eat anything—brains; shark; cobra heart, still beating—with anyone. But he did reserve one bias: The man hated vegetarians. “Serious cooks regard these members of the dining public—and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans—as enemies of everything that’s good and…
INDIA, January 27, 2024 (Live Mint):The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on 27 January claimed the Archeological Survey of India’s report has reconfirmed that the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi was constructed after demolishing a magnificent temple at the site, reported news agency PTI. The VHP also sought the structure be declared a Hindu temple and handed over to the community. It demanded…
KAUAI, HAWAII, July 10, 2024 (Hinduism Today, by Ravindran Raman Kutty): Humans have always depended on the environment for survival, obtaining resources such as fruits, grains, water, fire, minerals and wood from nature. In Hinduism, it is believed that the five elements of nature (water, fire, earth, air and space) are of utmost importance and must be used in the…
PURI, INDIA, July 8, 2024 (India): Hundreds of thousands of people pulled giant chariots from the 12th-century Jagannath temple in Puri towards Gundicha temple, around 1.5 miles away, as Rath Yatra festivities began in Odisha on Sunday. The yatra started around 5.20 pm after Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalanada Saraswati visited the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra…
HAMM, GERMANY, July 7, 2024 (www.wa.de, Google translated from German): The Sri Kamadchi Ampal Temple was inaugurated on July 7, 2002. Since then, the annual temple festival has been one of the highlights of the Hindu community and again attracted thousands of visitors from home and abroad on Sunday. Uentrop–The big parade, in which the Goddess Sri Kamadchi Ampal is…
UNITED STATES, July 6, 2024 (India Currents, by Partha Sircar): Some time ago I browsed through a thousand-page tome, The Story of Ramakrishna Mission. What struck me was that three chapters were devoted to the Vedanta movement in America. My initial reaction was that it overstated the influence of America on the Vedanta movement (perhaps another example of our penchant…
