Source BALTAL, KASHMIR, July 18, 2014 (Rising Kashmir): At least 24 people were injured in clashes in Baltal area of Sonamarg, which serves as base camp for Amarnath yatra, after a scuffle between a ponywala and one of the members of a free yatra langer (community kitchen) over some issue. At least 100 tents and four yatra langars were damaged…
Source Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions: Why am I doing it? What might the results be? Can I be successful? Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, then proceed.— Chanakya (350-275 bce), Indian politician, strategist and writer
Source MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, June 24, 2014 (Bali Daily): The Balinese community living in Melbourne, Australia, is raising funds to build a Hindu temple in the city where they have established a banjar (customary hamlet) with around 300 members. At an estimated cost of US$167,000, the community is appealing to local businesses in Bali to help raise funds to build a…
Source TAMIL NADU, INDIA, July 12, 2014 (by Sudha G Tilak): In a state where not eating meat is associated with brahminism, it is remarkable that the film has not attracted charges of reinforcing casteism. A Tamil film espousing vegetarianism is not only running to packed cinemas across the state, but also winning critical acclaim in the regional press. Titled…
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 16, 2014 (Indian Express): Prof. Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, who headed Kakatiya University’s history department, has been appointed by the new government as chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research. In an interview to The Indian Express, Rao says an Indian perspective to history has been missing. “In the past 200 years, generally Indian history…
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 9, 2014 (Hindustan Times): When minister Sushma Swaraj and other members of Parliament were sworn in last month, they chose to take their oath in Sanskrit. The language is gradually gaining popularity but there is still a long way to go when it comes to beating the misconception that Sanskrit is just related to the…
Source GRAND BASIN, MAURITIUS, July 11, 2014 (Le Mauricien): On Saturday, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami oversaw the dedication of a statue of the God Muruga at the Somnath Spiritual Park temple at Grand Bassin. This initiative of the Sri Skanda Foundation, the Hindu House and the Spiritual Park at Riviere-du-Rempart saw the participation of a large contingent of the faithful, who…
Source One must seek the shortest way and the fastest means to get back home–to turn the spark within into a blaze, to be merged in and to identify with that greater fire which ignited the spark.— Swami Nityananda of Ganeshpuri (1885-1961), South Indian Mystic
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 12, 2014 (The Hindu): Delhi is now the world’s second most populous city with 25 million inhabitants. Tokyo remains the world’s largest city with 38 million inhabitants. The 2014 revision of the World Urbanisation Prospects by U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)’s Population Division has pointed to rapid urban growth in India,…
Source If you long to see God, take to spiritual practices. What is the good of merely crying, “O God! O God!”?— Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886)