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…
Source BELGIUM, March 31, 2014 (Metrobali): Hundreds of expatriate Balinese Hindus living in the EU (and their European friends and relatives) enthusiastically welcomed the New Year Saka 1936 in suburban Brussels on Saturday, March 29, 2014. On the grounds of the Indonesian Embassy, the event was kicked off with Hindu prayer and worship including a traditional dance. Then six large…
Source The syllable gu means shadows. The syllable ru, he who disperses them. Because of the power to disperse darkness, the guru is thus named.— Advayataraka Upanishad
Source INDIA, April 17, 2014 (The Hindu): Unless the rules under the HR and CE Act provision relating to appointment and duties of Executive Officers is issued, the Commissioner cannot appoint any Executive Officer, irrespective of the situation in the administration of a temple, the Madras High Court has ruled. The court judgment is likely to have an effect on…
Source MADURAI, INDIA, April 29, 2014 (The Hindu): Invoking the God of rains, a special puja (Varuna Jeba Yagam) was performed at the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in the early hours of Monday. A special abishekam was performed on the Nandi statue at the Veeravasantharayar Mandapam. Verses were recited from the Thirumurai of Sundaramoorthy Nayanar by the temple priests and a…
Source INDIA, April 30, 2014 (UCANews): Hindus from Pakistan often travel to India on one-month pilgrim visas, purportedly to visit the innumerable Hindu holy places and shrines around the country. But since 2011, the number of Pakistani Hindus refusing to leave at the end of their stay has increased dramatically in response to the easing of visa regulations by the…