Source INDIA, February 15, 2015 (Swarajya magazine, by Sanjeev Sanyal): Sanatan Dharma or Hinduism has long suffered from a very basic problem — the difficulty of defining it. One can describe a particular sect, or philosophy, but it is not easy to explain the whole. Thus, it is not uncommon for people to ultimately fall back on saying that it…
Source INDIA, February 16, 2015 (Indian Express, by Jay Bhattacharjee): Last Monday, the Supreme Court, in one of its periodic displays of angst, wondered whether India would manage to preserve its secular character for long. The Homeric observations were made by a Bench which was hearing an application by a Christian organization that is demanding official recognition for courts set…
Source We who have come from the East here have been told day after day in a patronizing way that we ought to accept Christianity because Christian nations are the most prosperous. We look about us and see England as the most prosperous nation in the world, with her foot on the neck of 250 million Asiatics. We look back…
Source CHENNAI, INDIA, February 12, 2015 (NDTV): Cricket is a religion in India, quite literally. A cricket-lover in Chennai has built a Cricket Ganesha temple that has statues of Lord Ganesha in several cricketing avatars. Cricket-lovers flock to the temple to pray for the Indian team, as the World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand. The Sri Palayathamman…
Source GUYANA, February 14, 2015 (Huffington Post, by Murali Balaji): On May 5, 1838, the Whitby, a British ship docked in British Guiana (now known as Guyana) with 249 human cargo after a nearly three-month voyage from the Port of Calcutta in India. Along the way, many of those on board were abused by the ship’s crew, and five died.…
Source UNITED KINGDOM, February 11, 2015 (Christian): St. Michael and All Angels’ Church who made a decision last year that ended a yoga class’s use of its hall because the activity’s roots are “incompatible with the Christian faith” has received support from its diocese. Church council members informed yoga instructor Naomi Hayama that they were no longer allowing groups linked…
Source UNITED KINGDOM, February 1, 2015 (BBC): Two years ago Lauren was living in the south of England and studying pharmacy. Abhiram, originally from India, lived and worked in New Jersey. In December 2012 they made contact on a vegetarian forum online. As they chatted, they fell in love, and within days of that first online conversation decided they wanted…
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 God is with us. It is He only who gives us the strength to work. If we live with this inspiration in our heart, we will surely experience Divinity in our life. Our work will become our devotion, and means of our spiritual progress. — Rameshbhai Oza, inspired performer of Vaishnava kathas
Source BERN, SWITZERLAND, February, 10, 2015 (Bluewin): Four women were consecrated as priestesses to serve the Hindu community in Berne in early February. There are virtually no Hindu women priests in India or Sri Lanka, said Sasikumar Tharmalingam, priest of the Saivaneri Koodam community’s temple at the House of Religions in Bern, while speaking to the press. Sasikumar Tharmalingam immigrated…