Source: calgary.ctv.ca CALGARY, CANADA, September 25, 2009: The Calgary Zoo is defending its decision to erect a statue in front of the elephant enclosure. The statue is a depiction of the elephant headed Hindu God Ganesha. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles and is often the deity whom worshippers first acknowledge when they visit a temple. Concerned…
Source: www.hindu.com INDIA, September 13, 2009: A day in the life of an murti maker is marked by strict self-discipline, both physical and mental. “We bathe at dawn, get into fresh clothes and say a small prayer before embarking on murti making as often our work require us to stand/ stamp/ climb the murtis. We also try and abstain from…
Source: news.bbc.co.uk UNITED KINGDOM, September 23, 2009: Villagers in India have accused the Hollywood superstar, Julia Roberts, of interrupting one of their most important religious festivals. They say that her huge film set in the town of Pataudi near Delhi has prevented them from celebrating the Navratri religious festival. The Pretty Woman star used the Hari Mandir temple to shoot…
Source: news.bbc.co.uk UNITED KINGDOM, September 2009: Most of the world’s major river deltas are sinking, increasing the flood risk faced by hundreds of millions of people, scientists report. Damming and diverting rivers means that much less sediment now reaches many delta areas, while extraction of gas and groundwater also lowers the land. Rivers affected include the Krisha River, Nile, Rhone…
Source: www.hinduismtoday.com A sannyasin of great spiritual attainment came to the outskirts of a village in India. He was camped under a tree for the night when suddenly a villager came running to him, screaming, The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone! Which stone? asked the sannyasin. Last night, Lord Siva appeared before me in a dream, said…
Source: news.bbc.co.uk UNITED KINGDOM, September 23, 2009: Villagers in India have accused the Hollywood superstar, Julia Roberts, of interrupting one of their most important religious festivals. They say that her huge film set in the town of Pataudi near Delhi has prevented them from celebrating the Navratri religious festival. The Pretty Woman star used the Hari Mandir temple to shoot…
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com HYDERABAD, INDIA, September 25, 2009: The great Indian divide along north-south lines now stands even more blurred. A pathbreaking study by Harvard and indigenous researchers on ancestral Indian populations says there is a genetic relationship between all Indians and more importantly, the hitherto believed theory that Aryans and Dravidians signify the ancestry of north and south Indians might…
Source: www.nature.com [HPI note: this is the study published on Nature Magazine, referenced in the article above.] INDIA, September, 2009: To test the concepts of Central Asian introduction of the Indian caste system by Indo-Aryans, who plausibly and predominantly would have appointed themselves to castes of higher rank to legitimize and maintain their power on land, labor and resources; and…
Source: mailto:arvind@hafsite.org NEW YORK, USA, Septemeber 26, 2009: The Tanenbaum Foundation for Interreligious Understanding in NYC created a Peacemakers in Action award for individuals who use their faith to build peace and transform armed conflict. They have had many representatives of Abrahamic faiths, but are looking for nominees of Eastern faith traditions. The following 5 criteria are used to assess…
Source: www.sambodh.us KALAMAZOO, MI, USA, September 24, 2009: The Sambodh Society Inc. and the Sambodh Center for Human Excellence of Kalamazoo, MI, are sponsoring a four-day seminar and workshop on the topic of Hindu Dharma for the 21st-Century. The seminar will hold eight one-hour presentations on eight foundational pillars of Hinduism identified by His Holiness Swami Bodhananda Saraswati on the…