Source CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN, July 23, 2012 (diariodeavisos.com): On Sunday, July 22, over 2,000 people attended the celebration of the Ratha Yatra organized by the local Hindu community in collaboration with the municipality of Arona,. The Ratha Yatra is a very important holiday, which is associated with Lord Jagannath, and held in Puri (India) during the months of June and…
Source MUMBAI, INDIA, July 25, 2012 (ABC News): Oprah Winfrey is facing a barrage of criticism from disappointed Indian viewers who say she resorted to “stereotypes and cliches” in the episode of her show “Oprah’s Next Chapter” dealing with her visit to the subcontinent. “Watching the Oprah in India thing on TLC and getting more and more irritated by the…
Source “I went to the root of things, and found nothing but Him alone.”— Mira Bai (1500-1550), princess of Rajasthan, Northwest India, a saint celebrated for her lyrical poetry dedicated to Krishna
Source UNITED STATES, July 19, 2012 (huffingtonpost.com): (HPI note: we’re running several different reports on this Pew Study, as each highlights a different aspect of the report.) In a report on Asian America and religion published today, the Pew Research Center offers new data that illuminate the complexity and richness of our pluralistic democracy. Pew’s national survey is providing one…
Source VARANASI, INDIA,July 22, 2012 (indiatimes.com): The police succeeded in recovering the stolen rare handwritten manuscript of Ramcharit Manas, the epic authored by Goswami Tulsidas and other articles including a statue and silver crown on Saturday. They arrested two persons in this connection. The manuscript and other articles were stolen from the Hanuman Mandir at Tulsi Ghat on December 22…
Source BANGKOK, THAILAND, July 20, 2012 (UPI): Thailand and Cambodia have pulled back their troops from the disputed border area around Preah Vihear, a ninth-century Hindu temple. Bangkok and Phnom Penh have been at a standoff around the 900-year-old temple in the Dangrek Mountains on the Thai-Cambodia border for several years and several military confrontations. The International Court of Justice…
Source BANGALORE, NDIA, July 20, 2012 (India Today): The Karnataka government has decided to spend US$3 million to ensure that the state does not face a drought this year. However, the money is not being spent on drought-proofing measures, rather the government is handing out this amount for “special prayers and yagnas” to invoke the rain Gods. According to the…
Source Srinagar, July 19, 2012( Mail Today): As the death toll of Amarnath pilgrims mounted to 92 on Thursday, the 25th day of Amarnath yatra, the state health ministry voiced concern that the pilgrims don’t even take basic health precautions and put their lives to risk. Dr. Anita Murthy, who volunteered to serve Amarnath yatris at the Baltal base camp,…
Source A Hindu devotee asked God, in the form of the multi-armed Lord Narayana, this question: “My dear Lord, I understand that you have innumerable inconceivable potencies. But out of all of them the energy of light seems to be the most amazing. Light pervades the spiritual world, it illuminates the material universes, and life is impossible without it.” He…
Source SYDNEY, AUSTRAILA, July 20,2012 (economictimes.com): India has topped Britain and China to become Australia’s leading source of migrants for the first time, data revealed on Friday, with seven of the top 10 source countries now in Asia. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said India accounted for 29,000 of the 185,000 places in Australia’s 2011-12 permanent migration programme — some 15.7…