Source MUMBAI, INDIA, August 18, 2011 (Times of India): For the first time, 280 girls from will serve as purohits (priests who invoke blessings for families and who do not work for a temple) in the upcoming 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The girls, along with 70 boys, are being groomed in performing puja to install the murti of Lord Ganesha…
Source PFORZHEIM, GERMANY, July 2011 (pz news): Journalists participated in a recent open house of the Sri Nagapoosany Aalayam Amman temple in Pforzheim, 30 miles west of Stuttgart, Germany. They report that the temple association, which founded the temple in 2007 in rented quarters, has signed a purchase contract for the building just a few days ago. One hundred forty…
Source GUYANA, Thursday, August 11, 2011 (National Communications Network of Guyana):A meeting of President Bharrat Jagdeo with Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today and head of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, who was accompanied by Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami, has produced agreement on the importance of applying philosophical knowledge to daily life. Satguru Bodhinatha said afterwards that he was pleased with President Jagdeo’s…
Source KATHMANDU, NEPAL, June 13, 2011: Of late, the holiest Hindu shrine in Nepal is facing an embarrassing problem–a sudden rise in the population of mice and cockroaches. The menace is so serious that it has affected daily prayers and scared the storekeepers (Bhandaris), who have lodged a formal complaint with the Shree Pashupati Adhyayan Byawasthapan Swatantra Adhikar Sampanna Samiti,…
Source Well, sir, I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I just made your horn louder.— Anonymous
Source UNITED STATES, July 11, 2011 (by Loren Paul-Caplin at the Huffington Post): The Sanskrit meaning of the word darshan is “auspicious viewing.” The concept of darshan is steeped within the Hindu tradition of worship and practice as the “beholding” or “sighting” of a deity, sacred object or revered person. This experience is commonly held to encompass a reciprocal component…
Source When I’m not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded.
Source INDIA, August 2011: One of the ironies of life is that there are millions of children without homes, and without families, while there are millions of adults who wish to be parents but cannot. Adoption is the process which can unite them, and yet it is still a loaded word for many Indian families. For years there was a…
Source DUBAI, UAE, August 14, 2011 (Daijiworld Media Network): An all-women puja committee, comprising over 50 members irrespective of caste, conducted the Shri Varamahalakshmi Vrutha Puja at JSS Private School Auditorium, Sh. Zayed Road, Dubai on Friday, August 12. The event was attended by more than 1,000 devotees from all around the UAE. The ceremony began around 3:30 pm with…
Source DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, August 10, 2011 (dukenews.duke.edu): Duke University has hired its first Hindu chaplain. Usha Rajagopalan, who began her part-time role at Duke Aug. 1, will provide guidance for the Hindu Students Association and represent the group on Duke’s Faith Council and in the university’s Religious Life program. Rajagopalan is fluent in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam, and comes…