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 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…
Source As to a mountain that’s enflamed, deer and birds do not resort–so, with knowers of God, sins find no shelter.— Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitreya Upanishads 6.18
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…