Source: www.theworld.org NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 5, 2010: While retirement homes for the elderly are commonplace in the US, they are a new, and growing, phenomenon in India. Fountains tumble in manicured gardens. Gray haired retirees shuffle along on afternoon walks. Inside the activity center, card players pair up in the early evening. And elderly spectators gather as a ping…
Source: HPI MOKA, MAURITIUS, January 16, 2010: The Chairman of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute State Secondary School, Mr R. Dwarka, informed an assembled audience at the Thiruvalluvar Day celebrations on Saturday that a module on the Tirukural of the South Indian weaver poet was to be introduced in all their academic qualifications from certificate through to degree level. He stated…
Source: www.hellomagazine.com INDIA, January 12 2010: This month, the centuries-old temples of Hampi, in southern India, are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Vijayanagara empire with a traditional festival of folk culture and elephants, brimming with life and colour. Every year, between the 3rd and 5th of November, the Hampi Utsav festival is celebrated. This time, it has been postponed…
Source: www.indianexpress.com HARDWAR, INDIA, January 16, 2010: On the banks of the Ganges, a priest sat in front of the sacred fire, a family crouched all around it. Eyes closed, they poured ghee into the fire as they waited for 3:30 p.m. when the solar eclipse would end, praying to redeem the sun from the clutches of darkness. The last…
Source: religionclause.blogspot.com TEXAS, USA, January 14, 2010: [HPI note: Texas and, to a lesser extent, California are the states that define the standards for what will be in school textbooks in all of America. Hindus should be well aware of this process. For wider coverage on this, including Hinduism Today’s Hindu Social Studies special insights, go to this link. ]…
Source: www.hinduismtoday.com God is subtle. Albert Einstein
Source: www.thejakartapost.com KLUNGKUNG, BALI, January 7, 2010: Klungkung is often described as the birthplace of Balinese culture because it was here that Javanese Hindus relocated after the end of the Majapahit kingdom 700 years ago, recreating classical Hinduism on the island. In Klungkung a new performing, visual arts center and contemporary art museum is being built. The Arts Monument, or…
Source: www.expressindia.com HARIDWAR, INDIA, January 14, 2010: Braving the winter chill, thousands of devotees took their dip into the holy Ganga in the first days Maha Kumbha Mela, considered the worlds largest religious congregation, that takes place once every 12 years. With the sun rise, devotees who had started lining up along the streets of Haridwar leading to various ghats,…
Source: www.shastras.org MINNESOTA, USA, January 17, 2010: (HPI Note: Dr. Rambachan is Professor and Chair, Religion Department, St. Olaf College.) Although the exclusion of Dalits from places of Hindu worship ought to be a matter of deep concern and distress, there is hardly a ripple of protest in the sea of Hindu complacency. Shutting the doors of Hindu temples to…
Source: newsweek.washingtonpost.com USA, January 6, 2010: (By Aseem Shukla) A person could be fined up to $35,000 if “he publishes or utters matter that is insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion.” That absurd anti-blasphemy law, proposed in Ireland, provides a timely occasion to explore the Abrahamic concept of blasphemy.Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century considered blasphemy…