Source MUMBAI, INDIA, January 28, 2012 (Times of India): The color yellow fills the air as the city prepares to celebrate the festival of Basant Panchami on Saturday. The festival welcomes the onset of spring on the fifth day of the Hindu month of Magh. Spilling over from Makar Sankranti, kite-flying is a routine practice this day, particularly in north…
Source VARANASI, INDIA, January 28, 2012 (Times of India): Two big religious ceremonies of the city, but both vary in many ways for artisans. Yes, the festival of Saraswati Puja fetches more profits for the artisans who are engaged in preparing idols of the deity worshipped on the occasion of Basant Panchami as compared to grand celebration of Durga Puja.…
Source There is not a fellow under the sun who is my disciple. On the contrary, I am everybody’s disciple. All are the children of God. All are His servants. As for me, I consider myself as a speck of the dust of the devotee’s feet.— Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886)
Source BENGALURU, INDIA, January 23, 2012 (samvada.org): [HPI note: the author is a Christian freelance journalist]. A retired judge of Karnataka High Court, M.F. Saldanha has recently said that Christians in Karnataka State are under an unprecedented wave of persecution. He has also termed Karnataka as “the Rogue State No.1.” Unfortunately for Saldanha, he himself admits that the State has…
Source CHENNAI, INDIA, January 27, 2012 (The New Indian Express): The Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair 2012, being held at the Dwaraka Doss Goverdhan Doss Vaishnav College Ground in Arumbakkam, is drawing huge crowds. According to the organisers of this sought-after annual spiritual fair of the metro, a total of 160 stalls have been put up by various spiritual and…
Source (AFP) – 4 hours ago CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, January 27, 2012 (AFP): The Art Institute of Chicago has won a major grant from the government of India in honor of a landmark 1893 speech there by a monk, Swami Vivekananda, who introduced Hinduism to the United States. The $500,000 grant will be signed over Saturday at the opening of a…
Source In India I found a race of mortals living upon the Earth, but not adhering to it. Inhabiting cities, but not being fixed to them, possessing everything but possessed by nothing.— Appolonius of Tiana (2-97 ce), Greek philosopher and occultist. His work deeply influenced Western mysticism.
Source CHENNAI, INDIA, January 27, 2012 (Deccan Chronicle): The Agastiyar temple at T. Nagar (central Chennai) that has been managed more as an ashram and a defunct Naadi Jothida Nilayam for about six decades was taken over by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR & CE) department on Wednesday evening citing “gross mismanagement” and “violations.” The temple had its…
Source SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, January 26, 2012 (Mercury News): In a quintessentially Californian move that could provoke a groan from some in the red states — officials inaugurated a public yoga studio Thursday for passengers at San Francisco International Airport, possibly the world’s first inside an airport. After the official opening for the 150-square foot former storage closet Airport Director…