Source USA, Jan 2013, by Tyker Mathisen, CNBC: I have spent the past few months working on a documentary on the business of death, I’ve been to casket-manufacturing companies, funeral homes, mortuary science schools and the annual convention of the National Funeral Directors Association, some 6,000 funeral professionals. They were a sliver of the more than 130,000 people who work…
Source INDIA, January 15, 2013 (World Time by Ishaan Tharoor): What’s billed as the largest single gathering of humanity is taking place right now in the northern Indian city of Allahabad. At the confluence of the Yamuna, Ganges and (mythical) Saraswati Rivers, as many as 100 million people will participate over the next month in an ancient Hindu festival known…
Source Disciple: Is it possible to cleanse India of degenerate practices?— Swami Vivekananda: What nonsense you say, you coward! You have well-nigh thrown India into ruin by always crying “It is impossible, it is impossible!” What cannot human effort achieve?
Source KARNATAKA, INDIA, January 21, 2013: Siddis of Haliyal taluk in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district on Sunday celebrated the re-election and swearing-in of Barack Obama as U.S. President for the second term. The function was held at Golehalli village in Haliyal taluk. Siddis are an African tribe living in the forests of Uttara Kannada. They are jubilant that an African-American…
Source CHENNAI, INDIA, January 2013 (The Hindu): The Sri Kalikambal-Kamadeswarar temple, George Town, Chennai, wears a festive look. In fact the entire length of Thambu Chetty Street where the famous temple nestles has been decorated. The spirit reflects in the way the members of Sivacharya Trust and others have involved themselves in the consecration of the temple. As the first…
Source ALLAHABAD, INDIA, January 17, 2013 (India Real Time): The Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering on Earth, began Monday in Allahabad, a city in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Between 80 and 100 million Hindus are expected to take part in the 55-day festival, bathing at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna, sacred rivers believed to cleanse sin…
Source NEW YORK, U.S., January 20, 2013 (Outlook India): The Maha Kumbh Mela, considered the largest public gathering in the world, will be the subject of a case study at Harvard University, which will study the logistics and economics behind it and the “pop-up mega-city” that comes to life in Allahabad during the religious event. A team of faculty and…
Source Eternal, pure, groundless, death-and-birth free, pervasive, ever immaculate, distant, near, enveloping effulgence of void, the support of all, the fullness of bliss, the consciousness-form beyond thought and speech, That which thus stood, the expanse vast that generates bliss, let us contemplate.— Tayumanavar (1706-1744), South Indian devotional poet
Source USA, January 21, 2013 (life.time.com): Few spectacles on Earth can compare to the great six-week Hindu pilgrimage, the ancient Kumbh Mela, during which literally tens of millions of people make their way to the river Ganges in order to bathe and worship. The 2013 Kumbh Mela takes place at Allahabad (Prayag) in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Sixty…
Source Seek the Infinite, for that alone is Joy unlimited, imperishable, unfailing, self-sustaining, unconditioned, timeless. When you have this joy, human life becomes a paradise; the light, the grace, the power, the perfections of that which is highest in your inner consciousness, appear in your everyday life.— Swami Omkarananda. founder of Omkarananda Ashram, Rishikesh