Source EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, October 4, 2014 (Edinburgh Evening News): Bagpipes and fiddles will merge with tribal belly dancers and a Bollywood band to celebrate the Capital’s 20th Dussehra Festival tomorrow. Around 5000 people are expected to gather for the annual Hindu festival on Calton Hill, which celebrates good conquering evil. Symbolic 25 ft effigies of the demons Ravana, his brother…
Source TIRUMALA, ANDRA PRADESH, INDIA, October 5, 2014 (Deccan Chronicle): With the holiday pilgrim crowd continuing to throng the Tirumala hill shrine on Saturday, a stampede-like situation developed in the queue lines giving tense moments to officials of the TTD. They rushed to the Vaikuntam Q complex to get the situation under control. With absolutely no respite from the heavy…
Source Seek the Infinite, for that alone is Joy unlimited, imperishable, unfailing, self-sustaining, unconditioned, timeless. When you have this joy, human life becomes a paradise; the light, the grace, the power, the perfections of that which is highest in your inner consciousness, appear in your everyday life.— Swami Omkarananda. founder of Omkarananda Ashram, Rishikesh
Source TOLEDO, OHIO, October 2, 2014 (Toledo Blade): A 1,000-year-old statue on display at the Toledo Museum of Art for almost a decade will be returned to the Government of India, the museum announced today. The sculpture, a bronze statue of the Hindu deity Ganesh, known as the Ganesha, has been the source of an ongoing investigation, after the U.S.…
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 2, 2014 (Times of India): Ramlilas in Delhi have come of age. The traditional Ramlilas, where the story evolved through several days of performances, have given way to modern shows presented by professional actors and trained choreographers. Even modern equipment is used in the shows to catch the audience’s interest. Connaught Place’s Central Park has…
Source MUMBAI, INDIA, September 30, 2014 (dna India by Garga Chatterjee): In a few days, I’ll go from my city home in Kolkata to my clan-abode in Patuligram village of West Bengal’s Hooghly district. Ma Durga, the mother Goddess, will come alive in Patuligram as Moter Ma — the name by which She is known there. Every year on Bijoya…
Source Of all blessings we know of none greater than the begetting of children endowed with intelligence.— Tirukkural
KAUAI, HAWAII, September 25, 2014 (HPI): As readers may know, the California State Board of Education’s Instructional Quality Commission set in motion a 60-day review period for the revised Framework for History-Social Studies. In this revised Framework, which sets the classroom curriculum for each grade, the section on India and Hinduism has been extensively changed, in our opinion, often for…
Source The mind alone is man’s cause of bondage or release: it leads to bondage when attached to the sense objects, and to release when freed from them.— Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitri Upanishad
Source INDIA, September 30, 2014 (Vivekananda Kendra): The booklet titled “The Global Vision and Mission of Swami Vivekananda, and how it inspired the Indian Spiritual Thrust World-wide” (downloadable online at http://tinyurl.com/nta7ocy) highlights the need for a Directory of Indian Spiritual Organisations Functioning Abroad, and presents the details of the Project. It contains an appeal from the President of Vivekananda Kendra,…