Source TBILISI, GEORGIA, August 31, 2012 (eurasianet.org): A growing number of Georgians are turning to yoga to shake off the stress of daily life. But their quest for inner calm and smaller waists is generating hostility from the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church. Over the past two years, yoga has gone from a largely unknown Eastern tradition to a popular fitness…
Source JORHAT, INDIA, August 22, 2012 (newstrackindia.com): A sacred lamp in a Vaishnavite monastery has put Assam’s Jorhat town on the world map. The lamp has been burning continuously for the past 484 years, and has been officially recognized by the Asia Book of Records. A temple official told reporters that the authorities are hoping to approach the Guinness World…
Source THANJAVUR, INDIA, August 17, 2012 (The Hindu): As the puppets start dancing on the stage – thanks to the dexterity of artists pulling the strings from behind – the crowd at Sri Besant Lodge in Thanjavur on Sunday breaks into peals of laughter. Sri Gananathar Bommai Nataka Sabha from Mayiladuthurai presented the show Sivasakthi, a puppetry programme, as part…
Source Actions are the louder expression of thought. The quality of thought is ordered by the nature of our inner belief and faith.— Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), founder of Chinmaya Mission
Source LONDON, U.K., August 29, 2012 (The Telegraph): The Paralympic Flame has arrived in London ahead of Wednesday’s opening ceremony. After an overnight relay from Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire — the spiritual home of the Paralympic Games — the flame reached the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu temple in Willesden, Brent, amid cheers and traditional prayers. Hundreds of people waved Union flags…
Source Silence is the highest eloquence.— Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), South Indian mystic
Source August 27, 2012 (Yoga Journal): Yoga scholar Georg Feuerstein passed on Saturday at the age of 65. Feuerstein was one of the most highly regarded scholars on Hinduism in the West. He authored more than 45 books about yoga including The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy, and Practice (2001), The Deeper Dimension of Yoga: Theory and Practice (2003),…
Source UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA, August 30, 2012, (BBC News): Should the religious festival be a money-spinner? Indian religious leaders have reacted angrily to a proposal to sell broadcast and advertising rights to the world’s biggest religious festival. Commercializing next year’s Kumbha Mela would be highly offensive, they say.The BBC has learned that the state government wants to offset the cost…
Source ALLAHABAD, INDIA, September 2, 2012 (BBC): A controversial plan (see earlier article below) to sell media rights to the world’s biggest religious festival in India has been put on hold, after opposition from Hindu leaders. However, government officials say their proposal for the Kumbha Mela festival has not been formally dropped either. The ancient Hindu gathering takes place in…
Source When the fundamentalists of any religion teach an unrelenting duality based on good and evil, man and nature or God and Devil, this creates friends and enemies. This belief is a sacrilege to Hindus, because they know that the attitudes which are the by-product are totally dualistic, and for good to triumph over that which is alien or evil,…