Source UNITED KINGDOM, October 4, 2012 (Daily Mail): Cao Yan, a 36-year-old teacher from China, came to India last year on a mission to decode ancient Buddhist literature. Cao Yan picked up Sanskrit in the year-long training he received under retired professor Pushpa Dikhshit, an eminent Sanskrit scholar based in Chhattisgarh. Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan has 33,668 students enrolled in its…
Source NEW YORK, NEW YORK, October 9, 2012 (The Telegraph UK): Dr. Eben Alexander, a Harvard-educated neurosurgeon, fell into a coma for seven days in 2008 after contracting meningitis. During his illness Dr Alexander says that the part of his brain which controls human thought and emotion “shut down” and that he then experienced “something so profound that it gave…
Source Time is more precious than money; it is the most valuable thing in the world. Time is life. Use it profitably in spiritual pursuits.— Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh (1887-1963), founder of Divine Life Society
Source MUMBAI, INDIA, September 28, 2012 (India Times): Away from the odiousness and mercuriality of international politics, Jaikumar Trivedi last week installed a Ganesh statue in the heart of Swaminarayan Mandir on Ganesh Chaturthi. The next day, Ganpati Bappa was taken around the temple premises in a rath yatra. Bhajans resonated, dandiya raas followed, and then a bhandara. Finally, the…
Source DHAKA, BANGLADESH, September 20, 2012 (Hindu Business Line):Bangladesh’s parliament has passed a landmark bill aimed at protecting the rights of the Hindu community members, especially women from marriage-related cheating. The new law — the Hindu Marriage Registration Bill 2012 — aims to provide legal and social protection to members of the Hindu community. State Minister for Law, Justice and…
Source CANADA, October 4, 2012 (CBC News): The federal government is canceling the contracts of non-Christian chaplains at federal prisons, CBC News has learned. Inmates of other faiths, such as Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jews, will be expected to turn to Christian prison chaplains for religious counsel and guidance, according to the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who…
Source KARACHI, PAKISTAN, September 30, 2012 (The Express Tribune): Based on Section 295-A, a blasphemy case has been registered against Muslim men for damaging a Hindu temple during riots on Ishq-e-Rasool Day.Section 295-A is the lesser known, non Islam-specific clause of the country’s blasphemy law. After Karachi’s Shri Krishna Bhagwan Mandir was vandalized by a mob, the Gulshan-e-Maymar police registered…
Source VRINDAVAN, INDIA, October 3,2012 (Deccan Herald): Traditionally, Vedic hymns are chanted and religious rites performed in honor of one’s ancestors. There is an elaborate feast that marks pitra-paksh. Family and friends are invited, and pandits too are fed on the occasion. Many of those who observe the rituals believe that observing pitra-paksh in honor of one’s forebears ensures peace…
Kerala Samajam of South Florida FLORIDA, U.S., October 2012 (Press Release): On October 2nd, 2012, an inspiring message of peace and harmony manifested and seemed to walk alongside men and women. After a year of careful planning and advocating by the Kerala Samajam of South Florida, the Mahatma Gandhi Square Inc. in Davie, Florida finally saw completion on the anniversary…
Source PAKISTAN, October 6, 2012 (Pakistan Observer): [HPI Note: This is an editorial]: It was shocking to see that a group of Muslims ransacked a Hindu temple in Karachi during protests in reaction to a blasphemous film in the United States. The group broke religious statues, tore up a copy of the religious book, took away the decorative ornaments and…