Source RUSSIA, June 30, 2015 (Times Of India): Close on the heels of India leading worldwide International Yoga Day celebrations, yoga classes have been banned in a central Russian city by the authorities to check spread of “religious occultism.” At the center of the crackdown are two studios holding classes for Hatha Yoga — a set of asanas or postures…
Source SRI LANKA, June 30, 2015 (France-Presse): Shunned, destitute and pushed into prostitution in some cases, Sri Lanka’s Tamil widows have returned to northern Jaffna since the end of the separatist war only to discover they are not welcome even in their homeland. Now, six years after the war ended, the women who fled the fighting on the peninsula in…
Source JAMMU, INDIA June 30, 2015 (India TV News): Amid tight security arrangements, the annual Amarnath yatra will begin from Jammu as the first batch of over 5,000 pilgrims will leave for 3,888-metre high cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas. The yatra will be escorted by heavy contingent of security forces to twin base-camps of Amarnath cave shrine in Baltal…
Source When I think of myself as a body, I am your servant, my Lord; when I think of myself as an individual soul, I am part of you; but when I realize I am atman, you and I become one.— Lord Hanuman in the epic Ramayana
Source INDIA, June 21, 2015 (Swarajya by Dr. Kanniks Kannikeswaran): It is an indisputable fact that everyday practice of yoga brings immense benefits. The International Yoga Day celebrations is just an attempt to underscore this fact and bring awareness to this priceless heritage that we all share. Yoga is undoubtedly one of India’s greatest gifts to the world and is…
Source TAIWAN, June 29, 2015 (Straits Times): HPI note: The use of thrown colored powder–traditionally part of the Hindu festival of Holi–has gained a following elsewhere in the world, not as part of a religious event, but as one more feature of small or large parties. During Holi, the colored and potentially flammable cornstarch powder is tossed randomly, and posses…
Source He who befriends a man whose conduct is vicious, whose vision impure, and who is notoriously crooked, is rapidly ruined.— Chanakya (350-275 bce), Indian politician, strategist and writer
Source WEST FORSYTH, GEORGIA, June 24, 2015 (by Kelly Whitmire, Forsyth News): The ongoing saga over plans for a Hindu temple in west Forsyth has taken a couple of twists this month. First, Forsyth County has filed a motion for reconsideration of Chief Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley’s decision to reverse a conditional use permit awarded last summer to…
Source INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, June 7, 2015 (Indy Star): Nearly 5,000 people went to the Hindu Temple of Central Indiana on Sunday for the final day of an inauguration event for the temple’s $10 million expansion. From Wednesday to Sunday, ceremonies were held to consecrate the new space. Aided by cranes and scaffolding, priests on Sunday blessed the stone sculpture Deities.…
Source ODISHA, INDIA, June 28, 2015 (Hindustan Times): A Congress-sponsored dawn-to-dusk shutdown on Friday brought normal life to a standstill in Odisha as people rallied behind the opposition party’s demand for action over alleged irregularities in rituals at the iconic Jagannath Temple in Puri. The Congress called the strike demanding the resignation of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, institution of a…