Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com INDIA, August 2, 2009: Rakhi is celebrated in various ways all over India. In the West, Rakshabandhan is celebrated as Nariyal Purnima. Coconuts are thrown into the sea as a mark of respect and offering to Lord Varuna. In the South, the day is celebrated as Avani Avittam. This day is auspicious, especially for the Brahmin community as…
Source: www.smithsonianmag.com TANNA, VANATU, February 2006: Every year, February 15 is John Frum Day on the remote island of Tanna in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. On this day, devotees descend on the village of Lamakara from all over the island to honor an American messiah, called by the locals “John Frum.” The island’s John Frum movement is a…
Source: www.hinduismtoday.com Eternal, pure, groundless, death-and-birth free, pervasive, ever immaculate, distant, near, enveloping effulgence of void, the support of all, the fullness of bliss, the consciousness-form beyond thought and speech, That which thus stood, the expanse vast that generates bliss, let us contemplate. Tayumanavar (1706-1744), South Indian devotional poet
Source: www.daijiworld.com DUBAI, UAE, August 2: Devotees across the United Arab Emirates attended a vibrant Mahalakshmi Vratam festival held today at Karama Centre Recreation Hall and participated with full of devotion. This pooja is being held every year at the same premises. More than 800 devotees attended this event to get themselves blessed by Goddess Lakshmi. Varalakshmi Vratam is a…
Source: religionclause.blogspot.com OKLAHOMA, USA, July 31, 2009: By a vote of 6 – 6 yesterday, the judges on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a rehearing in a Ten Commandments case. The case in question was a June 8, 2009, decision called Green v. Haskell County Board of Commissioners, in which the court held that a display of…
Source: news.bbc.co.uk UNITED KINGDOM, July 31, 2009: India is facing more hunger and malnutrition, a report by Indian campaign group, the Navdanya Trust, says. Prominent environmentalist Vandana Shiva, who runs the trust, said there were now more hungry people in India than in sub-Saharan Africa. The government has not responded to the report which was released on Thursday. But it…
Source: www.hinduismtoday.com You may turn your bones to fuel, your flesh to meat, letting them roast and sizzle in the gold-red blaze of severe austerities. But unless your heart melts in love’s sweet ecstasy, you never can possess my Lord Siva, my treasure-trove. Tirumantiram Verse 272
Source: news.bbc.co.uk UNITED KINGDOM, July 31, 2009: India is facing more hunger and malnutrition, a report by Indian campaign group, the Navdanya Trust, says. The trust says that there are more than 200 million people – or one-in-four Indians – going without enough to eat. The prominent environmentalist Vandana Shiva, who runs the trust, said there were now more hungry…
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com TIRUPATI, INDIA, July 31, 2009: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) is exploring ways to cut back on free VIP passes so as to give preference to common devotees, as per the direction of chief minister Reddy. Today, the TTD protocol list has 70 types of designations with VIP access. A decision will happen in the next TTD board meeting,…
Source: blog.taragana.com SHIRDI, INDIA, July 30, 2009: Hindu and Muslim pilgrims visiting the shrine of Shirdi Sai Baba in this town will be served food cooked with the help of a solar steam system, inaugurated by New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah Thursday, that officials say is the world’s largest. The solar steam system can generate 3,500 kg of…