Source COLUMBUS, OHIO, April 21, 2014 (Columbus Dispatch): Refugees resettled in the U.S. face cultural, language and religious barriers. They worry about the loved ones and friends they’ve left behind. There’s often a disconnect between their idyllic views of America and the difficulties they encounter finding good-paying jobs, especially in the recent economic downturn. “It’s not uncommon for them to…
Source Hinduism was organized for peaceful and harmonious coexistence, not for continued confrontation with external enemies in the shape of unbelievers. It is no accident of history that, though Hinduism knew internal feuds like any social polity, it never crossed its borders to wage wars against people simply because they worshiped different Gods.— Ram Swarup (1920-1998), foremost spokesperson of Hindu…
Source DENPASAR, BALI, May 5, 2014 (The Bali Daily): Starting this year, the provincial administration will pay for the enrollment and participation of the island’s thousands of Hindu high priests and temple priests in the national health insurance (JKN) program. “Funds will be allocated from the provincial annual budget to cover the necessary premium for the high priests, temple priests,…
Source ALBERTA, CANADA, April 6, 2014 (Canadian Bhutanese Society Alberta): The first group of 18 Canadian Bhutanese Society members, who are resettled in Southern Alberta since 2009, have received Canadian citizenship. The special ceremony was held in Lethbridge Court on the 5th of April 2014. The ceremony was held in four groups by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which was presided…
Source “God is the creator, and the best way of offering prayer to him is to be creative. God is all loving, and the best way to serve him is to serve humanity.”— Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1825-1883), Hindu reformer
Source BANGALORE, INDIA, May 5, 2014 (Bangalore Mirror): She is stunning even at age 150. With her long black hair bedecked with flowers, a crimson tilak on her face, a big nose-ring, chunky earrings, and a curvaceous figure under a bright red nine-yard sari, she looks resplendent. Queen, all of two feet, is a leather puppet, created from deer leather,…
Source DEHRADUN, INDIA, May 3, 2014 (Times Of India): Last year’s mid-June flash floods did not deter 15,000-odd devotees from across the country from converging at Yamnotri and Gangotri shrines in Uttarkashi district to attend the sacred ceremony marking the re-opening of these shrines’ portals. With this, the Char Dham yatra has commenced in Uttarakhand. Amid chanting of Vedic mantras,…
Source DEHRADUN, INDIA, May 4, 2014 (India Today): Sacred portals of the Kedarnath temple were reopened to devotees amid elaborate rituals early on Sunday morning, about a year after the Himalayan shrine was marred by flash floods that had left thousands of people dead and many others stranded. Chief priest of the shrine (Rawal) Bhima Shankar Ling presided over the…
Source Try to treat with equal love all the people with whom you have relations. Thus the abyss between ‘myself’ and ‘yourself’ will be filled in, which is the goal of all religious worship.— Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982), God-intoxicated yogini and mystic Bengali saint
Source MARYLAND, U.S., May 1, 2014 (Huffington Post): Over the past few months, the Hindu American Foundation, Kaur Foundation and Sikh Kid To Kid worked with the Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools to implement a three-part training for teachers, involving cultural immersions at Sikh and Hindu places of worship (separate trips), followed by a reflection session designed to improve classroom…