Source MADURAI, INDIA, April 21, 2012 (The Hindu): Power authorities are considering exempting from night time power cuts the procession routes of Deities during the upcoming Chithirai festival of the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple. Thousands congregate along the routes of the processions, which are mostly during the evenings and nights, to have darshan. Sources from Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation…
Source Tell the truth; there’s less to remember.— Mark Twain, famous American author
Religion News Service LOS ANGELES April 22, 2012 (RNS):[HPI note: Because this news from Religion News Service is not available on the web, HPI is running it in full.] Kamna Mittal and her husband moved to the Bay Area soon after they were married in India in 2000. In addition to being in a new country, the couple were new…
Source SPANISH FORK, UTAH, April 19, 2012 (by Karisa Kukuchka): Tons of particles of colored maize painted the sky on March 24 and 25 and April 14 at the annual celebration of Holi. The Hindu temples in Spanish Fork and Salt Lake City that were once white became encrusted with layers of chalk and the handprints of the nearly 80,000…
Source Try to treat with equal love all the people with whom you have relations. Thus the abyss between ‘myself’ and ‘yourself’ will be filled in, which is the goal of all religious worship.— Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982), God-intoxicated yogini and mystic Bengali saint
Source BHOPAL, INDIA, April 20, 2012 (Indian Express): The Madhya Pradesh BJP government on Thursday announced that it would pay for the pilgrimage of at least one hundred thousand senior citizens every year (for several religions). Under the scheme, called Mukhyamantri Teertha-Darshan Yojana, the senior citizens will be allowed to take attendants, whose expenses will be covered as well. Madhya…
Source PATNA, INDIA, April 15, 2012 (Deccan Herald): The much-revered Mahavir Mandir in Patna added another feather to its cap when it became the second highest earner among all the temples in North India. The Vaishno Devi temple is at the top. According to Mahavir Mandir Trust, which runs the temple, the Mandir earned more than US$1.15 million in the…
Source Rely on the teachings to evaluate a guru: Do not have blind faith, but also no blind criticism.— His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual-political leader in exile
Source UK, April 16, 2012 (by Mark Bittman): Colin Spencer, whom Germaine Greer once called “the greatest living food writer,” turns 80 next year, and shows no signs of slowing down. “What I tried to do right from the beginning,” he told me, “was to make my food column political.” With that, he meant taking a stance not on matters…
Source INDIA, April 15, 2012 (The Hindu): The annual Hindu festival of luck, Vishu, was celebrated with traditional fervor and ritualistic splendor at Sabarimala Sannidhanam on Saturday. Hundreds of devotees from different parts of the State as well as from the neighbouring States of Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, thronged the holy hillock to have the auspicious ‘Vishukkani’ darshan at…