Eight Weeks to a Better Brain

Source UNITED STATES, January 21, 2011 (Harvard): Participating in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress. In a study that will appear in the Jan. 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reported the results…

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Promoting Sacred Groves

Source BHOPAL, INDIA, February 7, 2015 (Daily Pioneer): Sacred Groves are patches of natural or near-natural vegetation, dedicated by local communities to their ancestral spirits or deities. Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya or The National Museum of Humankind is located here on 200 acres of land and is intended to “depict the story of humankind in time and space.” It…

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Archbishop Arthur Roche Cancels Trip to India After Being Denied a Visa

Source INDIA, February 5, 2015 (Catholic Herald): Denial of visas to Vatican officials comes amid heightened tensions over “re-conversion” ceremonies. India’s Catholic bishops have protested against a government decision to deny visas to two Vatican officials seeking to visit the country for a gathering. Archbishop Arthur Roche, former Bishop of Leeds and now secretary at the Congregation for Divine Worship…

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The Story of a Museum Treasure Found on a New York Pavement Decades Ago

Source UNITED KINGDOM, February 6, 2015 (Telegraph): The treasures in the V&A’s Indian collection boast an illustrious past, passing through the hands of sultans and maharajas. Yet one prized item, a wall hanging which will take centre stage at the museum’s forthcoming India Festival, has a more lowly history. It was destined for the rubbish bin and only saved by…

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Kaimur Temple Artefacts Stolen

Source PATNA, INDIA, February 7, 2015 (Times of India): Three artefacts, including a silver canopy kept inside the sanctum sanctorum of the ancient Mundeshwari temple in Kaimur district, the oldest recorded Hindu temple in Bihar, were stolen on Thursday night. The temple, an ASI-protected monument, is one of the oldest living monuments in the country. The miscreants also took away…

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Seychelles Hindu Devotees show their Mettle at Thaipoosam Kavadi Festival

Source VICTORIA, SEYCHELLES, February 4, 2015 (Seychelles News Agency): Hindus from all over the world celebrate the annual Thaipoosam Kavadi Festival, and the island archipelago of the Seychelles, located in the western Indian Ocean, is no different. Devotees of the Hindu Deity Lord Muruga flocked into the streets of the nation’s tiny capital, Victoria, on the main island of Mahe…

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Last Bathing Day of Magh Mela Witnesses Five Million Devotees

Source ALLAHABAD, INDIA February 4, 2015 (Times of India): More than five million devotees including seers and kalpwasis (pilgrims to this festival), took the last holy bath in Ganga on the occasion of Maghi Purnima on Tuesday, marking the end of the month-long Magh Mela. The day also marked the end of Hindu month of Magh and the month-long kalpwas…

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Plurality in Hinduism Shouldn’t be Used to Deny its Integrity

Source INDIA, February, 4, 2015 (Swarajya): Vamsee Krishna Juluri, Professor of Media Studies and Asian Studies at the University of San Francisco, discusses his new book, “Rearming Hinduism”, and takes to task academics and media commentators for their concerted campaign against Hindus and Hinduism. Prof. Juluri’s earlier work has focused on media and media influences, especially in the Indian context.…

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