Source BHOPAL, INDIA, January 11, 2012 (Hindustan Times): As the Madhya Pradesh government prepares to create a Guinness world record with thousands of school students performing the yogic exercise, Surya Namaskar, on January 12, Muslim leaders have termed bowing before the sun un-Islamic and idolatrous. Top clerics in the state issued a fatwa against Surya Namaskar on Tuesday. Alleging that…
Source QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA, January 13, 2012 (gov.au): Queensland Health has issues a handbook, the Health Care Providers’ Handbook on Hindu Patients, as a quick-reference tool for health workers when caring for Hindu patients. This handbook aims to inform health care providers about of the religious beliefs and practices of Hindu patients that can affect health care. Each section provides practical…
Source At a national and international level, we will enjoy more peace as we become more tolerant. Religious leaders can help by teaching their congregations how to live in a world of differences without feeling threatened, without forcing their ways or will on others. World bodies can make laws which deplore and work to prevent crimes of violence. It is…
Source USA, January 3, 2012 (WSJ): Say “placebo effect” and most people think of the boost they may get from a sugar pill simply because they believe it will work. But more and more research suggests there is more than a fleeting boost to be gained from placebos. A particular mind-set or belief about one’s body or health may lead…
Source INDIA, January 8, 2012 (Indian Express): Displaced Kashmiri Pandits came together in the city to recall the hardships of a migrant life after spread of militancy in the Valley. The first international Kashmiri Pandit Youth Conference, organized by ‘Youth 4 Panun Kashmir’ under the aegis of Panun Kashmir, was inaugurated on Saturday. Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar addressed…
Source How do you describe the constantly cheerful person? Grinning from year to year!— Anonymous
Source RUSSIA, January 3, 2012 (by Natalya Radulova): Only a few years ago, Tina-Sad vegetarian preschool founder and director Tina Trusova worked at a Moscow publishing house and was bringing up her three children on typical meals like borsch and roast beef. Today she is a devout vegetarian. Private preschools are becoming more and more common in modern Russia. They…
Source [HPI note: This is a rebuttal for an article summarized on HPI on January 7, 2012, linked here .] WASHINGTON, DC, USA, January 7, 2012 (By Sheetal Shah): I’d like to thank the The New York Times for continuing to fuel the relevancy of the Hindu American Foundation’s Take Back Yoga campaign. The latest piece in the Times Magazine,…
Source WASHINGTON, DC, USA, January 11, 2012 (NYTImes): In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on Wednesday for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and dismiss their leaders without government interference. “The interest of…
Source Can you weep for Him with intense longing of heart? Men shed a jugful of tears for the sake of their children, for their wives, or for money. But who weeps for God?— Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886)