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
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 16, 2013: The Hindu American Foundation’s Jay Kansari is looking for Hindu Americans going to the Kumbha Mela in early February. He’s been asked by CBS News Asia for some names of Hindus from the US for their reporters to meet and possibly interview at the Mela. If you are going and would like to help, kindly…
Paras Ramoutar TRINIDAD, January 15, 2013 (by Paras Ramoutar): An exhibition of books, photos and posters is now available to academic institutions, social, cultural, religious, on request, throughout Trinidad and Tobago. It was launched at the Divali Nagar last Thursday to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the late Indian spiritual leader who is credited to bringing Hinduism…
Source AUSTRALIA, January 14, 2013 (BBC): Australia experienced a wave of migration from India about 4,000 years ago, a genetic study suggests. It was thought the continent had been largely isolated after the first humans arrived about 40,000 years ago until the Europeans moved in in the 1800s. But DNA from Aboriginal Australians revealed there had been some movement from…
Source Once upon a time a man whose ax was missing suspected his neighbor’s son. The boy walked like a thief, looked like a thief and spoke like a thief. But the man found his ax while digging in the valley, and the next time he saw his neighbor’s son, the boy walked, looked and spoke like any other child.—…
Source INDIA, December 11, 2012 (boldsky.com): In Hindu marriages, several cultures have different customs that vary from state to state. These rituals have been passed on through the ages and still carry forward to the next generation. In Hindu marriages, you can find a few things in common. For example, engagement, mehendi, wedding and reception are ceremonies that are commonly…