Source INDIA, June 20, 2013 (BBC): The scale of devastation in Uttarakhand is staggering. As rescuers establish contact with more of the affected villages and settlements, they say many have been flattened to the ground. On Wednesday, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna flew over Kedarnath, Guptkashi, Govindghat and Joshimath areas to assess the damage. Most of the temple town of Kedarnath…
Source UTTARAKAND, INDIA, June 20, 2013 (The Telegraph):India’s military battled on to reach villages and towns cut off by flash floods and landslides in the country’s north as officials warned at least 1,000 people may have been killed. Helicopters and close to 10,000 soldiers have been deployed to rescue tourists and pilgrims stranded after floods caused by torrential monsoon rains,…
Source Peace has three dimensions. Peace within ourselves, peace among nations and peace with nature.— Dada J.P. Vaswani, head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission
Source BANGALORE, India, June 15,2013 (Lavanya Shankaran): Caste is not a word that modernizing India likes to use. It has receded to the unfashionable background. Newspapers reserve their headlines for the newer metrics of social hierarchy: wealth and politics, and those powerful influencers of popular culture, actors and cricket stars. Traditionally, Indian society was divided into four main castes. The…
Source BALI, INDONESIA, June 18, 2013 (The Jakarta Post):The second World Hindu Summit has agreed to establish the World Hindu Parisad, a Hindu organization discussion and deliberation forum aiming to expand the network of Hindu devotees around the globe. In addition, the 500 Hindu leaders and scholars from all over the world also established the World Hindu Center, the implementing…
Source In the house of the seer there are five cows (the five senses), which without a cowherd wander everywhere. If they were controlled and their thirst quenched, they would give milk.— Tirumantiram, a sacred mystical treatise by Rishi Tirumular.
Source KAUAI, HAWAII, June 18, 2013 (HPI): The July/August/September, 2013, edition of Hinduism’s award-winning spiritual magazine, Hinduism Today, has been released in digital form and is now available for free on your desktop. You can read articles online or download the PDF or ePub and enjoy it on your iPad. We broke most of our rules in this one. And…
Source One does not suddenly reach a point where desire goes away. Desire is life. Desire can be directed according to the personal will. Through sadhana you can gain mastery over all the forces of your mind and body.— Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of Hinduism Today
Source UNITED KINGDOM, June 14, 2013 (BBC): India’s population is forecast to continue to grow until 2050, according to the United Nations. India looks set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country from 2028, according to the United Nations. At that point, both nations will number 1.45 billion people each. Subsequently India’s population will continue to grow until…
Source BUTTERWORTH, MALAYSIA, June 14, 2013 (nst.com): A 100,000 strong crowd — largely made up of Hindu devotees, while people of other faiths included locals and tourists from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India — thronged the Arulmigu Sree Maha Mariamman Devasthanam temple for the annual seven-day fire-walking festival here recently. The festival started with a fire-walking ritual…