Source OXON HILL, MARYLAND, May 28, 2015 (Huffington Post): For the second straight year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee ended with co-champions each holding onto one side of the golden trophy while they were showered with confetti. Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam were the last two standing Thursday after exhausting the 25 words reserved for the final three spellers without…
Source UNITED STATES, May 20, 2015 (U.S. Department of State): Nisha Desai Biswal, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, issued a detailed testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, on Nepal in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake that struck on April 25th. The outpouring of concern from the U.S. Congress…
Source NEPAL, May 28, 2015 (Ecumenical News): Nepalese authorities have imposed a ban on visiting places of worship such as temples in the country, saying the earthquake that struck Kathmandu last month puts the stability of the structures in question. The country is still reeling from the temblor and the government says it is needs to temporarily stop local people…
Source Stop all your attachments to false values. In an ever-changing world there is nothing worthwhile for us to desire or weep for. Joys and sorrows are bound to come in human life; they are just two sides of the same coin.— Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1992), founder of the Chinmaya Mission
NEPAL, May 29, 2015 (Hinduism Today): Tenzin Norbu of Sunny Travels in Nepal sent the following email to a donor who was helping with funds to rebuild a village: “We thank you for the support. We have distributed the funds to the very poor Tamang village of 450 houses. It was not much, but the people were very happy to…
Source WASHINGTON, May 29, 2015 (Times of India): Following outcry from several groups, a prestigious American university has decided to rescind its suspension order against a student who displayed a Hindu swastika on his residence hall’s bulletin board. The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) welcomed the move to rescind the interim suspension order by the George Washington University (GWU). HAF associate…
Source BEIJING, CHINA, May 21, 2015 (Times of India): The head of Center for Gandhian and Indian Studies (CGIS) that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated at Shanghai’s Fudan University last week has said he is facing problems in finding Indologists and Gandhian studies experts for it. “Most Indologists in China are experts in Buddhism. We need variety. The best option…
Source There the eye goes not, nor words, nor mind. We know not. We cannot understand how He can be explained. He is above the known, and He is above the unknown. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this truth to us.— Sama Veda, Kena Upanishad 1.3
Source JAKARTA, INDONESIA, May 21, 2015 (Coconuts Jakarta): There are only six religions officially recognized by the Indonesian government: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Indonesian citizens had to put one of those six religions on their ID cards (KTP), regardless of their actual beliefs. Until now, that is. Yesterday, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo announced that faiths outside of…
Source Even in search of extraordinary gains, the wise will never speak trivial or useless words.— Tirukkural 198