Source MUMBAI, INDIA, September 18, 2015 (Hindustan Times): The wait’s finally over. Ganeshotsav begins on Thursday, enlivening the already vibrant spirit of Mumbai. Months of arduous labor and fine skills of thousands of artists, sculptors and decorators will be on display for the next 11 days. With larger-than-life statues and magnificent pandals lighting up Mumbai, the popular themes this year…
Source That which we call the Hindu religion is really the Eternal Religion because it embraces all others.— Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950)
Source ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA, September 17, 2015 (Siasat Daily): Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated in a unique way in the South Australian capital of Adelaide, where a neglected ancient statue of Lord Ganesha found its new home in a makeshift temple in the zoo. The statue was spotted by a local member of the Hindu community, and was later established in a…
Source NEPAL, September 17, 2015 (Baptist Standard): HPI Note: This news report is coming from a Baptist Church publication. Lawmakers in Nepal rejected an effort to declare the Himalayan nation a Hindu state, adopting a new constitution Sept. 14 defining Nepal as a secular republic but retaining a controversial anti-conversion clause. Elijah Brown, chief of staff with the 21st Century…
Source You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God’s creative principle works in you.— Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), founder of Self Realization Fellowship
Source UNITED STATES, September 17, 2015 (Pew Research): One year after history-making political change swept the country, Indians’ fervor for their leader Narendra Modi has not abated. A new poll in India shows the public’s views of the country’s direction and the economy are on the rise. Even so, Indians continue to see problems in their daily lives and in…
Source INDIA, September 15, 2015 (The Hindu): If you have more than 16,845 statues of Ganesha, you are bound to walk into record books! This is what has happened to P. Shekhar, whose lifetime love affair with the statues of the elephant God has earned him a rightful passage into the Guinness Book of World Records for dedicating his life…
Source CHENNAI, INDIA, September 17, 2015 (Business Standard): Vinayaka Chathurthi was celebrated across Tamil Nadu today with spiritual fervor and traditional gaiety. People offered prayers in their homes with the traditional clay-made deities besides worshipping Ganesha in temples and pandals set up by residents and Hindu outfits. Hailed as remover of obstacles, Lord Ganesha was offered Kozhukattai, a sweet dish…
Source Do you realize now the sacred significance and the supreme importance of the guru’s role in the evolution of man? It was not without reason that the India of the past carefully tended and kept alive the lamp of guru-tattva. It is therefore not without reason that India, year after year, age after age, commemorates anew this ancient concept…
Source SYDNEY,AUSTRALIA September 17, 2015 (by Geoff Hiscock, Tropical Forest Service): From luxury French perfumes such as Chanel No. 5 and Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium to the humble incense stick, from traditional Chinese medicine to modern pharmaceuticals, and from Hindu and Buddhist religious carvings to fine furniture, there is a common ingredient – sandalwood. For thousands of years, richly scented…