MEXICO, February 2011: Hindu Gods adorn a new series of lottery tickets in Mexico. Not surprisingly, the top prize went to a ticket featuring Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth. The National Lottery jackpot awarded a $4 million pesos (US$ 330,000) prize for ticket number 5825, whose notes were illustrated with the figure of Goddess Lakshmi during a recent drawing. The Goddess…
NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 21, 2011: One of the most ambitious and exciting projects in recent years — digitization of India’s ancient manuscripts — has moved a step ahead with the Delhi-based National Manuscript Mission (NMM) creating standards for digitization of close to 3 million manuscripts in its care. Old wisdom in a pdf or a jpeg? That’s right. The…
MUMBAI, February 25, 2011: It is time to bring out a comic book on the man who started it all. Anant Pai, a visionary who helped millions of children delve into the fascinating treasure trove of Indian sacred stories, mythology, history and legends through comics, died on Thursday at the age of 81 after a massive heart attack. The shy…
PURI, February 27, 2011: Thousands would have passed a dilapidated building on their way to Puri’s Jagannath temple, called Emar Math, not sparing a glance at the 200-year-old structure that on Saturday turned out to be a treasure trove worth US$ 20 million. Cops, probing a burglary, went into the Math only to find slabs of silver weighing more than…
He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. Martin Luther King (1929-1968) Source
NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 17, 2011: India is not taking European Union’s ban on the sale of its over-the-counter ayurvedic and herbal drugs across Europe from May 1 lying down. A delegation of officials from India’s department of Ayush and commerce visited Brussels in January to persuade the EU to relax its decision by another 10 years. According to EU’s…
BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, February 19, 2011: Though Jagannath’s mahaprasad is the most sought-after food by pilgrims in Puri, it has reportedly failed to reach their platter in time these days. The delay in completing the Deities’ daily ritual is taking its toll on availability of the prasad at the temple on time, alleged the shrine’s cooks. Resentment is brewing among the…
CHENNAI, INDIA, February 1, 2011: The Madras high court has struck down the Tamil Nadu government’s move to provide ‘blanket reservation’ to Hindus for certain posts in its archaeology department. The state’s stand was that Hindu candidates alone were eligible to apply for posts of epigraphist, archaeological officer and curator. Justice Chandru, describing it as ‘blatant discrimination,’ directed the authorities…
What is marriage? Falling in love anew every day always with the same person. Dada J.P. Vaswani Source
UNITED STATES, February 2011: Theologians, psychologists and sociologists agree about the benefits — spiritual, emotional and communal — of confession. Revealing our sins and missteps to a spiritual preceptor, in writing or in person, helps alleviate guilt and its accompanying anxieties. That, in turn, leads to happier, healthier living. A Catholic bishop in Indiana recently gave his imprimatur to a…