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…
Source LUCKNOW, INDIA, September 16, 2015 (Daily Pioneer): The state government has decided to take elderly residents of Uttar Pradesh to the pilgrimage of Tirupati and Rameshwaram free of cost under the Samajwadi Shrawan Sewa scheme. The pilgrimage is slated from November 26 till December 4. There will be 1044 berths for the pilgrims. Every sleeper coach will have one…
Source Life should be dynamic, full of movement, flowing endlessly like the mighty Ganges. Life’s movement should be channelled in the right direction. Life becomes a burden for many people because it has lost its dynamism. For them life is not like a flowing river. It is a static, turbid puddle. Understand that action gives movement to life, knowledge gives…
Participants included Imam Wazir Ali from Masjid Warithud-deen Mohammed in Houston, Acharya Arumuganathaswami, managing editor of Hinduism today and from Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii, the Rev. Kathryn Boren from St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Msgr. Larry Droll from St. Ann’s Catholic Church and the Rev. Randel Everett from 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative in Virginia. Topics included; Religious Persecution, Homosexuality…
Source MUMBAI, INDIA, September 4, 2015 (Mid Day): With Ganesh Chaturthi round the corner, September 17 to be precise, devotees in the city are in preparation mode to welcome Mumbai’s elephant God. Due to a scarcity of pandits during the Ganesh festival K.J. Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham has designed a special Ganesh puja course. In a workshop conducted recently, participants…
Source PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, September 8, 2015 (Khmer Times): Addressing a sore point in bilateral relations, Hor Namhong, a Deputy Prime Minister, asked Ambassador Naveen Srivastava to stop work on an Angkor Wat Temple replica, planned by Mahavir Mandir, a Hindu trust based in the eastern Indian state of Bikar. “Angkor Wat Temple is the heart of Cambodia, and the…
Source NEPAL, September 14, 2015 (Hindustan Times): Nepal’s lawmakers on Monday voted against an amendment proposal in a draft of the country’s new constitution to declare the Himalayan nation a Hindu state, triggering protests in the capital Kathmandu. Only 21 members of the 601-strong constituent assembly voted in favor of the proposal forwarded by the right-wing Rashtriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal. A…
Source If you have not seen your own Self, if you have not pierced the knots of your Heart and washed away the filth of your mind, then what does it matter if you are a human being?— Kabir
Source UNITED STATES, September 4, 2015 (Open by Murali Balaji): In 1855, German Indologist Albrecht Weber wrote to the Prussian minister of culture on the benefits of continued investment in the study of classical Indian traditions, arguing that only he and his brethren could shed light on what was previously “dark” to the rest of the world. By studying the…
Source KATHMANDU, NEPAL, September 14, 2015 (Daily Star): Nepal’s Constituent Assembly rejected calls to revert the Himalayan nation to a Hindu state during voting Monday on a draft of the country’s long-delayed new constitution, sparking violent protests. The constitution has been delayed by years of disagreements between Nepal’s main political parties, and the voting on the draft – expected to…