17th Century Ramayana Manuscript under Lock and Key after Theft

www.thehindu.com VARANASI, INDIA, August 10, 2014 (The Hindu): On December 22, 2011 when the only original pandulipi (manuscript) of Sri Ramcharitmanas (also referred to as the Ramayana) dated Samvat 1704 (1648 AD) and a few precious articles of its writer, Goswami Tulsidas, were stolen from the Hanuman temple in the Akhara Goswami Tulsidas on Tulsi Ghat, the Mishra family was…

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Pakistan’s Supreme Court Orders Government to Introduce Hindu Marriage Act in Two Weeks

Source ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, January 13, 2015 (Pakistan Christian Post): HPI note: The issue here is difficulty for Hindus obtaining government certificates recognizing their marriages, especially in Sindh Province. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Supreme Court Honorable Nasir-ul-Mulk, while hearing a case on the non-implementation of the 19th June detailed Supreme Court Orders for the protection of Minorities Rights,…

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Daily Inspiration

Source You shine, all living things emerge. You disappear, they go to rest. Recognizing our innocence, O golden-haired Sun, arise; let each day be better than the last. Rig Veda (X, 37, 9)

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Finding a New Way to Teach About Hinduism in America’s Schools

Source UNITED STATES, January 9, 2015 (Huffington Post, by Murali Balaji): While there have been some improvements–most textbooks now reject the Aryan Invasion Theory and give some more mention of Hindu philosophy, the factual errors continue to dominate the content that students across the country read when learning about Hinduism. The Hindu American Foundation’s (HAF) recent involvement in the Texas…

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Tamil Community Celebrates Ponggal

Source KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 15, 2015 (The Sun Daily): The Tamil community in Malaysia today celebrated Ponggal, a harvest festival that expresses gratitude to God, the Sun, the Earth and the milk-bearing cow. Malaysia Hindu Sangam president Datuk R. S. Mohan Shan said Ponggal is celebrated in January (14 or 15), coinciding with Thai, the 10th month in the…

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Haryana State to Make Yoga Compulsory

Source INDIA, January 14, 2015 (The Hindu): The BJP Government in Haryana has decided to make yoga compulsory in all the educational institutions in the state and would be introducing Haryana Premier League to promote indigenous and village games such as gatka, bullock-cart racing and kabbadi. It would also construct about 6,500 village level stadiums or vyayamshalas to take sports…

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Daily Inspiration

Source Try to treat with equal love all the people with whom you have relations. Thus the abyss between ‘myself’ and ‘yourself’ will be filled in, which is the goal of all religious worship.— Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982), God-intoxicated yogini and mystic Bengali saint

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To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This

Source UNITED STATES, January 9, 2015 (New York Times by Mandy Catron): HPI Note: We were struck by how this research relates to the process of arranged marriages. More than 20 years ago, the psychologist Arthur Aron succeeded in making two strangers fall in love in his laboratory. Last summer, I applied his technique in my own life, which is…

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Puducherry Opening Up More Avenues in Yoga

Source PUDUCHERRY, INDIA, January 7, 2015 (The Hindu): More than 120 years after Swami Vivekananda crossed the Atlantic and introduced yoga to the Western world, the discipline is a thriving industry in that part of the world with different variations taking shape every other day. 2014 proved a significant year for yoga in India, with the United Nations declaring June…

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Smithsonian Releases Massive Digitized Collection of Asian Treasures for Public Use

Source UNITED STATES, January 4, 2015 (Ancient Origins): The Smithsonian Institution has released more than 44,000 images of precious artworks and artifacts from two of their museums of Asian art, many of which have never been shown publicly before. The galleries are the first Smithsonian museums and first Asian art museums to digitize and share their collections on the internet.…

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