Source INDIA, August 23, 2014 (The Hindu): Every year, weeks before Ganesh Chaturthi, the word ‘eco-friendly’ garners more attention than the festival itself. Social organisations, NGOs and government bodies embark on campaigns vociferously advocating the use of eco-friendly Ganeshas. But, this trend of ‘going green’ seems to have reversed in Bommala Colony, as statues makers there pay a hefty price…
Source HYDERABAD, INDIA, August 21, 2014 (The Hindu): Infusing life into clay statues is the artisans’ skill and with awareness about use of clay statues increasing, these traditional potters are working overtime to meet the demand from devotees celebrating in their houses and mass pujas in public places in Hyderabad. Decorating Lord Ganesha statues with carcinogenic colours is a thing…
Source FLUSHING, NEW YORK, August 26, 2014 (NY Times): At the Hindu Temple Society of North America, in Flushing, Queens, this week is time to worship Ganesh, the elephant-headed, many-armed Deity who is believed to remove obstacles. Here, as at temples in over a dozen countries, Hindus are celebrating Ganesha Chaturthi, which marks the God’s birth (and rebirth). In Queens,…
Source WASHINGTON, D.C., August 13, 2014 (Georgetown Voice): This fall, Georgetown will add to its extensive on-campus chaplain community, the largest in the entire country, with its first-ever Hindu chaplain. Pratima Dharm, a Hindu chaplain currently serving in the U.S. Army, will arrive on campus on October 1. Vice President for Mission and Ministry Kevin O’Brien, S.J., announced Dharm’s decision…
Source You may develop a thousand virtues and be reckoned as the greatest in the land. But the lotus of your heart will not blossom until you receive the grace of the Guru, the grace of God!— Dada Sadhu Vaswani
Source INDIA, August 25, 2014 (The Hindu): The Malayalam New Year day was all ceremonies and rituals at Sabarimala. The gifted playback singer P. Jayachandran rendered his popular devotional song Sree Sabareesaa Deenadayalo! Memalavaazhum Sree Manikanta, after receiving the Harivarasanam Award instituted by the State government from Devaswom Minister V.S. Sivakumar at a function held at the holy hillock in…
Source VISAKHAPATNAM, INDIA, August 24, 2014 (Deccan Chronicle): Ganesh Chaturthi is round the corner and sculptors across Vizag are busy getting their act together for finishing the statues before time. While Ganesh statues taller than 60 feet is not new in Vizag, this time Vizagites will get to pay their obeisance to more than half a dozen such humongous Ganesh…
Source NEW JERSEY, U.S., August 23, 2014 (Huffington Post): The Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, also known at BAPS, inaugurated what is reported to be one of the largest U.S. Hindu temples in early August, and it is already drawing a crowd to its home in Robbinsville. BAPS volunteer Yogi Trivedi, a Ph.D. candidate in religion at Columbia University,…
Source O God of mercy who performs the dance of illimitable happiness in the hall of inconceivable intelligence! The Rig and the other Vedas are thundering forth in words, announcing to us that all are thy slaves, all things belong to thee, all actions are thine, that thou pervades everywhere, that this is thy nature. Such is the teaching of…
Source BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, August 23, 2014 (Daily Pioneer): The Cuttack Development Authority (CDA) on Friday resumed demolition of illegal temples and other places of worship and brought down at least five temples that had come up encroaching upon the CDA lands at Markat Nagar here. Equipped with the High Court’s order and adequate police support, CDA officials pulled down three…