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Source: www.hinduismtoday.com If, after returning from contemplation, you are capable of behaving as before, you have not been transformed.    Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982), God-intoxicated yogini and mystic Bengali saint

Source: www.punemirror.in PUNE, INDIA, August 30, 2010: A 10 PM curfew on sound pollution prompted Mandar Pataskar to develop “Soundless Ganesha,” a pandal which uses FM transmitters to keep noise pollution at bay during Ganeshotsav. The brainchild of Pataskar and Parag Bhide, a diploma student from MIT, the set-up for a noise-free Ganesh festival is quite simple to use. “People…

Source: www.nytimes.com NEW YORK, NEW YORK, August 22, 2010: Each August, the Erasing Borders festival of Indian dance contributes to the Downtown Dance Festival. Here is a downtown plaza surrounded by skyscrapers, with people coming and going at lunchtime and a soundtrack that includes the harbor and city traffic; and here in the open air are dancers in full Indian…

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com LUCKNOW, INDIA, August 29, 2010: The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court has asked the Central government to consider that Shankaracharyas are permitted to carry a religious sceptre with them during air travel. A division Bench of Chief Justice F.I. Rebello and Justice S.N. Shukla, however, did not agree with the view that all the Hindu saints…

Source: www.hinduismtoday.com My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconvenience, and I was frequently chided for my singularity, but with this lighter repast I made the greater progress, from greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension.    Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), inventor, founding father of America, on his vegetarianism

source: BBC LEICESTER, UNITED KINGDOM, August 2010: Women are becoming more and more prominent as worship leaders in all faiths in England. And now a woman from Leicester is taking on the largely male strong hold of Hindu priesthood. In her fifties Chanda Vyas achieved her childhood dream, when she became the first female Hindu priest to conduct weddings in…

Source: www.lassiwithlavina.com UNITED STATES, August 27, 2010 (by Lavina Melwani): Will students be heading to American universities to get their degrees as Ayurvedic doctors? Will patients seek out practitioners of this 5000-year old system of medicine from India? And will Ayurveda form the basis for new health and beauty products, even of restaurant menus, in the U.S.? If that sounds…

Source: HPI KAUAI, HI, USA, September 6, 2010: Himalayan Academy, which publishes Hinduism Today magazine, has just released its first eBook. Called “Gurudeva’s Spiritual Visions,” the book is a rare window into the inner life of an enlightened mind. It is a compilation of the extraordinary mystical experiences of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, founder of Hinduism Today and Kauai’s Hindu Monastery.…

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com MUMBAI, INDIA, September 3, 2010: The rush of injured “govindas”– who form human pyramids to reenact what Lord Krishna’s butter theft — stunned doctors at public hospitals in Mumbai on Thursday. As many as 170 govindas were taken to emergency rooms in civic hospitals. Doctors said dangerously high handis (butter pots) this year — some up to 50…

Source: www.treehugger.com UNITED STATES, August 16, 23010: Graham Hill’s (founder of treehugger.com) Weekday Vegetarian concept is controversial among some, who don’t think people should eat meat at all. But Time Magazine says that only 2.5% of Americans are strict vegetarians or vegans, and Graham’s idea is that any cutback in meat consumption is good for the environment. According to Vegetarian…