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2011/11/1 19:10:07 ( 2595 reads )
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hinduamerican.org
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 1, 2011 (Press Release from the Hindu American
Foundation):
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) strongly condemned a "blatant
attack" by Kentucky legislator David Williams (R-KY) against the
state's Governor, Steve Beshear (D-KY), for participating in a Hindu
religious ceremony last week at an area business.
State Senate President David Williams claimed that Gov. Beshear's
participation in a groundbreaking ceremony, or bhoomi puja, to inaugurate a
new manufacturing facility in Elizabethtown that is slated to bring 250
jobs, was not "in line with what a governor of the Commonwealth of
Kentucky ought to be doing," and that his actions were tantamount to
"idolatry." Williams also stated that as a Christian, he would
not participate in Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu prayers, and hoped Hindus would
open their eyes and "receive Jesus Christ as their personal
savior."
"The words of Sen. Williams are not only an affront to Hindu
Americans, but all Americans as he conjures up the lowest sentiments of
exclusion and bigotry," said Suhag Shukla, Esq., HAF's Managing
Director and Legal Counsel. "He's shown he's ignorant and intolerant
-- two qualities that we hope Kentuckyians will reject at the polls."
Williams, who trails Beshear by a nearly 2-1 margin in the polls, further
criticized the Governor for sitting cross-legged with a "dot on his
forehead," and described the ceremony as "polytheistic,"
disparaging Hindu Gods. Gov. Beshear's campaign issued a statement calling
the State Senator's remarks "pathetic and desperate."
The ceremony for the new factory took place last Friday and was attended by
company executives, community leaders, and several state and local
officials, including Elizabethtown Mayor, Tim Walker, who participated with
Gov. Beshear in the bhoomi puja. The facility signifies a $180 million
investment by FlexFilm, a company based in India that manufactures a wide
range of plastic film packaging products.
"While it is necessary to condemn Senator Williams' intolerant
comments, it is equally important to congratulate Governor Beshear and
Mayor Tim Walker for respecting America's religious diversity by
participating in the ceremony," said Samir Kalra, Esq., HAF's Director
and Senior Fellow for Human Rights. "Their actions epitomize our
nation's great traditions of religious tolerance and pluralism, and they
should be celebrated."
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2011/11/1 19:10:02 ( 1593 reads )
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COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, October 17, 2011 (zeenews.india.com): India agreed
Sunday to provide nearly USD 3 million to help restore the Thirukatheeswaram
temple.
This temple, located in the northeastern district of Mannar, is one of
the holiest Hindu shrines in Sri Lanka and an important symbol of the
island's Tamil cultural heritage.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between India and Sri Lanka
today under which New Delhi would provide assistance worth 326 million
Lankan rupees. Indian officials said the temple's restoration was one
of the many projects undertaken by the Indian government to restore
normalcy in the former conflict zones.
The restoration work is to be undertaken with the assistance of
Archaeological Survey of India and the College of Architecture and
Sculpture, Indian High Commission said in a statement here.
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Posted on
2011/11/1 19:09:55 ( 1835 reads )
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MALAYSIA, October 17, 2011 (Times of India): In an interview with B.
Sivakumar, Carl Vadivella Belle, former Australian diplomat and a
devotee of Murugan, talks about his first visit to a Hindu temple and
his interest in Hinduism:
"I was posted in Kuala Lumpur in the '70s. Shortly after my
arrival, we were taken to a Murugan temple in Kelang. I was curious
about the temple and about Hinduism; I knew very little about the major
religions in Malaysia. Malaysians were friendly and were willing to
explain their religious beliefs to me.
"I first attended Thai Poosam, a festival associated with Muruga,
as an observer in January 1978, at Batu Caves, Malaysia. I was
fascinated by enthusiasm of the people who carried kavadis, a wooden
stick with two baskets. Later, friends in Malaysia sent me introductory
religious material. One of the wisest pieces of advice was offered by
an old Telugu friend who wrote to me with cautionary comments. I was
told that I should fast for six weeks before taking a kavadi, abstain
from alcohol, practise vegetarianism and sleep by myself on the floor.
"This was new to me; most Westerners are not used to practising
restraint in any way at all! Later, I adopted the Hindu way of life. I
was christened Carl Donald Belle. I changed my name in 1980s after my
third kavadi. I felt that as a Hindu, I should have a Hindu name and so
chose to be called Vadivel meaning Muruga. The name was adopted after
consulting temple kurukkals or priests at a major Murugan temple in
Kuala Lumpur. I also became a vegetarian.
More at source.
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Posted on
2011/11/1 19:09:49 ( 1430 reads )
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We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we
begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing.
-- R.D. Laingt (1927-1989), Scottish psychiatrist
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Posted on
2011/10/31 16:24:34 ( 1347 reads )
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COIMBATORE, INDIA, October 13, 2011 (cadalyst.com): This may be a
first: a Nandi created with laser scanning and a computer-aided design
(CAD) model. Nandi is Lord Siva's mount, a great bull who is installed
in front of every Siva temple, gaze fixed unwaveringly on the image of
God in the inner sanctum, one leg extended as if just rising to his
feet to serve his Lord.
In 2008, VectraFORM Engineering and Solutions (a Coimbatore-based
distributor for a laser-scanning product) was requested to help create
a unique Nandi -- one that would last over 500 years, but different in
design from those in existence across India. The purchasers (not
identified) had given up on the use of stone, the traditional material;
in three attempts to create a stone Siva murti, the sculptors had been
unable to fulfill the original design intent.
The company took pictures of live bulls of various ages and studied
their characteristics, combining details from various photographs to
create an ideal specimen. Working from the pictures, the team created a
small plaster of paris model, which they scanned to obtain a CAD model.
Fine-tuning the image using CAD proved unsatisfactory, so they also
made a wax replica which could be corrected by hand.
The final wax model was then scanned and the data processed with a
series of software products, eventually creating many two-dimensional
drawings representing 100-mm layers. From these was designed a rebar
framework for the sculpture. The exterior was manufactured of mild
steel. The head, cast in seven pieces and later welded together, was
CNC-milled from polystyrene foam. Supporting bars were used to help
compensate for the deformation or warping of the castings. This
high-tech Nandi was inaugurated before 250,000 people in February 2009.
The full article, at Source, describes the creation of this Nandi in
greater detail, naming the various software products used in the
process.
[HPI note: Kauai Aadheenam, where Hinduism Today's offices are located,
had to search long and hard for the craftsmen (silpis) who are carving
the all-granite Iraivan Temple by hand and its Nandi; few workers
remain who are proficient in this ancient art.]
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2011/10/31 16:24:29 ( 1283 reads )
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USA, October 31, 2011 (CNN): The global population is expected to reach
7 billion today -- just 12 years after hitting 6 billion -- and the
milestone has many pondering the complex challenges associated with
billions more people on Earth in the coming years. Some are also
pondering something else: Just how big is 7 billion really? It's a
number that's easy to underestimate.
"The number is just outside of our usual everyday scale of
thinking," said Klaus Volpert, an associate professor of
mathematics at Villanova University. "Once you go past a million,
it becomes a blur."
Here are some different ways that might help you envision the
enormousness of 7 billion:
::: Seven billion seconds ago, the year was 1789. That was the year
George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. president and
Congress met for the very first time.
::: Seven billion ants, at an average of 3 milligrams each, would weigh
at least 23 tons (46,297 pounds).
The world didn't reach 1 billion inhabitants until 1800, according to
the Population Reference Bureau, and it reached 2 billion in 1930. But
with advances in modern medicine, in 1960 it reached 3 billion; in
1974, 4 billion; in 1987, 5 billion; and in 1999, only 12 years ago, it
reached 6 billion.
The U.N. has estimated a population of 9.3 billion by 2050, and there
is expected to be more than 10 billion people on Earth by 2100.
"We're getting into more and more trouble the bigger the number
gets," said John Bongaarts, vice president of the Population
Council, an international nonprofit group. "Every billion people
we add makes life more difficult for everybody that's already
here."
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Posted on
2011/10/31 16:24:23 ( 1386 reads )
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USA, October 31, 2011 (NYT) Feeling claustrophobic? You're not alone.
According to United Nations demographers, 6,999,999,999 other
Earthlings potentially felt the same way on Monday when the world's
population topped seven billion. But if you'd rather go by the United
States Census Bureau's projections, you've got some breathing room. The
bureau estimates that even with the world's population increasing by
215,120 a day, it won't reach seven billion for more than four months.
How do the dueling demographic experts reconcile a difference, as of
Monday, of 28 million, which is more than all the people in Saudi
Arabia?
They don't.
"No one can know the exact number of people on the globe,"
Gerhard Heilig, chief of the population estimates and projections
section of the United Nations Population Division, acknowledges. Even
the best individual government censuses have a margin of error of at
least 1 percent, he said. Monday's seven billion estimate actually may
be 56 million off.
The US Census Bureau's global population clock gives the pretense of
greater precision. It projects that about 255 people are born every
minute (about 367,000 a day) while about 106 die (roughly 153,000 a
day). At that rate, the world's natural increase would be about 78.5
million a year, or well more than the entire population of France,
Britain or Thailand.
"Realistically, the uncertainty is at least 2 percent and that's
for the 75 percent of the world for which we have recent official
counts or estimates," Joel E. Cohen, head of the Laboratory of
Populations at Rockefeller University and Columbia University, said
Monday.
Dr. Goodkind of the US Census Bureau said the bureau revises its
projections on a continuing basis, while the United Nations makes
revisions every two years. Even so, the Census Bureau projects that the
world population will hit seven billion next March 12 -- well within
the United Nations' six-month, 1 percent window of uncertainty. So
who's right? "We're not exactly in synch, but we're pretty
close," Dr. Goodkind said.
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Posted on
2011/10/31 16:24:17 ( 1415 reads )
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Source
MALAYSIA, October 22, 2011 (The Star): Two small bombs exploded in a
Bhutanese border town just three days ahead of the royal wedding on
October 13.
Responsibility for the blasts was claimed by the United Revolutionary
Front of Bhutan (URFB), an insurgent group based in Nepal, which said
it had timed the explosions to draw attention to the "gross
national sufferings of the Bhutanese people".
This incident highlights laid back Bhutan's startlingly hardline
approach to preserving its traditional culture and identity. This
pillar of its Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, has not been
helpful in lending happiness to some segments of its population.
Bhutan's bid to preserve its unique identity is rooted in its Buddhist
beliefs, but it has to resolve the problem of thousands of Hindu
Bhutanese Nepalis languishing in refugee camps and the small but
growing Christian population who seek recognition of their religion and
to be allowed to build churches.
The biggest blot on Bhutan's history is its attempt to deal with the
Nepali people within its borders.
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Posted on
2011/10/31 16:24:11 ( 1330 reads )
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UNITED STATES, October 21, 2011 (CNN): Niki Gianni was 11 or 12 when
she found a video on YouTube called "Meet Your Meat."
Saddened and disgusted by the footage from a slaughterhouse, the
Chicago girl announced she was no longer going to eat meat. Her parents
were less than thrilled.
While many parents worry whether their vegetarian or vegan children
will receive adequate nutrition for their growing bodies, the American
Dietetic Association says such diets, as long as they are well-planned,
are appropriate for all phases of life, including childhood and
adolescence. "Appropriately planned" vegetarian or vegan
diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health
benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases, the
dietetic association says.
"You can really feel the difference when you are eating something
from the ground and something from a factory," said Niki Gianni,
an animal activist who became a vegan shortly after embracing the
vegetarian lifestyle.
Now an 18-year-old college freshman, Niki Gianni said her eating habits
expanded her palate and turned her away from processed foods. Her food
choices also influenced her family: Her mother is now a vegan and her
father and sister are vegetarians.
The number of vegetarians in the United States is expected to increase
over the next decade, according to the dietetic association. A
vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic
heart disease, and vegetarians also appear to have lower overall cancer
rates, lower blood pressure and lower rates of hypertension than
non-vegetarians.
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Posted on
2011/10/31 16:24:05 ( 1133 reads )
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RNS
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, October 31, 2011 (RNS): The Supreme Court
announced Monday that it will not reopen a case in which a lower court
ruled that highway crosses memorializing Utah state troopers are
unconstitutional.
The court's decision was harshly criticized by Justice Clarence Thomas,
the lone dissenter, who said it "rejects an opportunity to provide
clarity" to an area of church-state law that is "in
shambles."
Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, which filed the suit in
2005, said he hopes the court's announcement will bring the case to an
end, and lead to an alternative way of honoring troopers who died in
the line of duty.
"Erecting divisive religious icons that violate the very
Constitution the fallen troopers had sworn to uphold is not the way to
honor those troopers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the citizens
of their state," he said.
The conservative Alliance Defense Fund, which asked the court to
consider the case, was disappointed.
[HPI note: This is the second time in recent years the Supreme Court
circumvents the issue of the Christian identity of the cross as opposed
to, as Justice Scalia puts it, a mark "erected in honor of all of
the war dead" of any faith. In 2010, a similar case, concerning a
cross erected in the Mojave Desert, was decided based on a legal
technicality about who owned the land -- therefore avoiding the
creation of any legal precedent on the religious aspects.]
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Posted on
2011/10/31 16:23:59 ( 1008 reads )
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You are a being that has unlimited power within.
-- Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of
Hinduism Today
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Posted on
2011/10/30 17:25:57 ( 1477 reads )
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NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 18, 2011 (dna India): Hindu God Krishna's
name is not the exclusive property of any company, the Delhi High Court
has said, while rejecting a trademark-related plea of a milk food
company which wanted a rival to be barred from using the Deity's name
on its products.
A division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Sunil Gaur
Monday heard an appeal filed by Delhi-based firm Bhole Baba against the
court's earlier order declining its claim of exclusive right over the
use of word 'Krishna' for dairy products.
Refusing the prayer of Bhole Baba Milk Food Industries to stop Parul
Food Specialities from using the word "Krishna", the court
said: "The distinctiveness to which the appellant can lay a claim
is to what it has got registered as a whole and such registration
cannot possibly give an exclusive statutory right to the appellant qua
a particular word of common origin."
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Posted on
2011/11/12 17:25:22 ( 1216 reads )
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www.hafsite.org
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, November 12, 2011 (HAF): The Hindu American
Foundation is now accepting applications for its Hindu American
Congressional Internship, a unique opportunity for selected applicants
to spend eight weeks interning on Capitol Hill between late May and
mid-July 2012. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents,
at least 18 years old, and enrolled in good standing at an accredited
U.S. university or college, and must have a minimum GPA of 3.0.
Additional information and the application form can be found online here.
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Posted on
2011/11/12 17:25:16 ( 1277 reads )
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Source
When a person is always right, there is something wrong.
-- Anonymous
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Posted on
2011/11/7 16:55:59 ( 1610 reads )
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KAUAI, USA, November 7, 2011: How important is it to you and your
family to have accurate online resources on Hinduism, written by
Hindus, free of biases and misconceptions?
HInduism Today is available for everyone on the web; Hindu Press
International is also a service fee of charge. Both are maintained by
the monks of Kauai Aadheenam, who live under vows of poverty and, under
the guidance of Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, joyously create the
extraordinary resources that are at your fingertips. The monastery also
maintains himalayanacademy.org, a website with a vast wealth of
information about Hinduism. To cover production and maintenance costs,
a large campaign has been launched, and you are invited to contributed
and invite others to help strengthen Hinduism on the web.
Read the appeal by our publisher below. You can donate here.
To good souls using our websites, described as "where Hinduism
meets the future:"
To keep our free web resources online, during the final quarter of 2010
we reached out for assistance from all of you around the world who
value the spiritual and educational content on our sites. We followed
the Wikipedia model, a world-class, free-resources site that raises
funds once a year to keep their good work going. The response was
overwhelming, truly a wind under our wings, with contributions
exceeding our goal by 20 percent. In our How the Funds Are Used page we
detail what we did with last year's generous gifts and what we hope to
accomplish next year. There was so much progress during the year, we're
back this November-December to ask again for your support to keep this
momentum going.
Not long ago, before the now ubiquitous Internet, information was hard
to come by. Sources were few but mostly authoritative, such as
encyclopedias and books which had been carefully tooled by trained
editors and fact checkers.
We quickly crossed the bridge to the other side, and now we find
ourselves in the opposite situation. There is a monsoon of information
from all kinds of sources. Every second, hundreds of millions of us
around the globe are looking to the Internet for information on topics
that interest us, including Hinduism. What we need now is organized
knowledge that we can count on being authentic.
Our sites provide that--and they do it for free and without ads.
Nowhere else will you find such a wealth of resources about our faith,
carefully researched and compiled from across the globe. How important
is it to you to have good resources on Hinduism online? How important
is it that your friends and business associates, your children and
their teachers, when doing a search about Hinduism, find a place that
explains it from the inside, without academic biases or gross
misconceptions?
There are two more reasons you might consider donating. One is that
your donation will go straight to the enhancement of the sites and the
content, not staff salaries or administrative overhead, since these
sites are created and maintained by selfless monks who work for free
and live simply in a verdant monastery on the island of Kauai.
The final reason to give is that a portion of your tax-deductible
contribution goes into the Digital Dharma Drive Endowment that was
begun last year. We put 10 percent, almost $6,000, of the 2010
contributions into this permanent fund. Each year we plan to add to
that endowment, which will generate a steady income for decades to
come, protecting the digital future of Hinduism, your religious
heritage.
We are here, on the Internet, for you today. With your help, we will be
here for you for years to come, in the lives of your grandchildren--and
perhaps in your next life. Donate here.
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Posted on
2011/11/7 16:55:53 ( 1737 reads )
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Source
NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 6, 2011: The Vietnam government has sought
assistance from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to restore a
portion of My Son Sanctuary, a world heritage site that has one of the
largest collection of Hindu temples and monuments in Southeast Asia.
"Yes, we have been approached by the Vietnamese government to
undertake restoration works at the sanctuary which houses centuries-old
temples, some dating as far back as the 4th century AD," ASI
Director General Gautum Sengupta said.
Set in a valley surrounded by high mountains, the 70-odd monuments in
My Son Sanctuary's precincts were badly damaged by the U.S. during the
Vietnam war in 1969. The surrounding terrain is considered perilous
even now because of another legacy of the war - undetected landmines.
In 1999, the My Son Sanctuary, constructed by Vietnam's Champa kings
between the 4th and 14th century AD, was awarded the UNESCO world
heritage site tag after it won recognition as an exceptional example of
cultural interchange.
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Posted on
2011/11/7 16:55:47 ( 2215 reads )
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INDIA, Ocotber 29, 2011 (by Rajeshree Sisodia): This is a story of one
of the world's largest agricultural biotechnology companies - the
United States-based Monsanto - and its run in with farmers in south
India, following murky allegations of its attempts to "steal"
nine indigenous brinjal (also known as eggplant or aubergine) varieties
and genetically modify them.
The allegation being leveled against Monsanto is that between 2005 and
2006, the company, through its Indian subsidiary Mahyco and several
agricultural universities in India, inserted a bacterial gene into the
indigenous brinjal genome to create a genetically modified version
named BT brinjal. These seeds were then sown in limited field trials in
India. But when it embarked on its program to genetically modify the
brinjal, it did so without first asking India's National Biodiversity
Authority for consent.
In response, the national biodiversity authority has announced its
plans to prosecute Monsanto for carrying out this research without
seeking its permission and the consent of hundreds of thousands of
farmers who have cultivated these varieties for generations. Officials
at the authority say that, by failing to consult with farmers and the
national biodiversity authority, the multinational firm has run foul of
India's Biological Diversity Act 2002.
Whether Monsanto and Mahyco are brought before India's courts is yet to
be seen. But the echoes of what happens in India will reverberate
globally, for underlying this is the larger issue of who controls the
global supply, production and price of food.
More of this lengthy article available at source.
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Posted on
2011/11/7 16:55:41 ( 1852 reads )
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Source
NEW DELHI, INDIA, October, 27, 2011: Earlier this year,
billionaire-philanthropists, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, arrived in
India to try to convince India's wealthiest that they could, and
should, do more. India is now home to 57 billionaires, according to
Forbes, and a multiplying number of millionaires. However, India's
super-rich has been relatively slow to give. Bain & Co.'s 2011
India Philanthropy Report, found that India's wealthy are giving away
between 1.5% and 3% of their yearly income. The number marks an
increase, but still pales in comparison to the 9% donated each year in
the U.S.
Creating a culture of philanthropy will take time, says Gurcharan Das,
author of The Difficulty of Being Good. "You have to measure that
speed against the fact that money has just come to India. In America,
there's been a 100 years of Carnegies and Rockefellers and time to
build a certain tradition and culture. In India we're telescoping all
of this in 10 or 15 years."
Even for those who are looking to donate, giving away large sums of
money in India poses logistical challenges. India has seen an explosion
of NGOs seeking funds and doling out help. Over the past three years,
an average of 700 NGOs open daily in India and the country is now home
to 3.3 million NGOs. That has made deciding where to donate funds and
making sure the money's going to good use, a difficult task.
Instead of giving to charities, the most popular form of giving is
donations to temples, which in turn open schools and hospitals for the
poor. "In the West there are a lot of things that are taken for
granted that the state will provide, here these things are provided
through the private sector, individuals, and community institutions,
like the temple," says Gurcharan Das. "That means in India
people have to look after their own through the joint family, caste and
other community institutions."
[HPI note: As the last paragraph explains, this research differentiates
charitable giving to secular institutions and donations to temples and
religious institutions. Indians are famously generous toward the
latter, and the social works of ashrams and similar institutions form a
social net that is often especial to the survival of millions. The idea
that "Creating a culture of philanthropy will take time" does
not do this religion-based system justice.]
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Posted on
2011/11/7 16:55:35 ( 1271 reads )
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To the growing soul, to the spirit within us, may not difficulties,
obstacles, attacks be a means of growth, added strength, enlarged
experience, training for spiritual victory? The arrangement of things
may be that, and not a mere question of the pounds, shillings and pence
of a distribution of rewards and retributory misfortunes!
-- Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950), Indian philosopher speaking
on karma and disasters
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Posted on
2011/11/6 20:22:25 ( 1405 reads )
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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, Tuesday, October 25, 2011 (newsday.co.tt): The
Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism Winston "Gypsy" Peters
yesterday distributed checks exceeding US$ 61,000 to three cultural
groups for the hosting of this year's Divali celebrations. The three
organizations receiving checks were the National Council for Indian
Culture (NCIC) who received over US$ 20,500, the Sanatan Dharma Maha
Sabha (SDMS) received nearly US$ 37,000 and the Hindu Prachar Kendra
received a little over US$ 3,000.
President of the SDMS Sat Maharaj expressed gratitude for the increased
amount, saying this year the SDMS has been taking the celebrations to
schools and temples. "We hired three Divali big trucks with
speakers, so rather than people coming to one central area we are
sending the performers out to the temples and schools. So this money we
received would really help with the expenses because those trucks are
really expensive so again we are just very thankful."
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Posted on
2011/11/6 20:22:19 ( 1642 reads )
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USA, November 5, 2011 (www.care2.com, by Delia Quigley):
As yoga has grown and spread throughout the West, chanting the sacred
Sanskrit words has spread right along with it. Chanting or singing your
prayers has been a vital part of worship in every religion worldwide.
It is done to soothe and quiet the mind, awaken spiritual energy and
heal the body. While many people seek release from stress in
mind-altering substances or activities, the simple act of chanting can
calm the nervous system and relieve stress in the body-mind, creating
feelings of well-being and oftentimes pure bliss.
Chanting affects your body-mind by the sound vibrations that resonate
throughout your body. According to research done by Alfred Tomatis of
the French Academy of Science and Medicine, chanting has a therapeutic
effect on the individual by activating the body's natural healing process.
He recommends chanting as an aid for overcoming addictions such as
smoking, drugs and alcohol.
Research conducted by Dr. Alan Watkins of the Imperial College, London,
reveals that chanting slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure.
Even just listening to others' chanting helps to normalize the
adrenalin and cholesterol levels in the body.
A simple and effective way to begin your practice is to chant the sound
of Om, the primordial vibration from which the universe came into
being. According to the Yajur Veda, Om represents all of our past,
present and future.
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Posted on
2011/11/6 20:22:14 ( 1646 reads )
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INDIA, October 25, 2011 (theaustralian.com.au): A luxury shopping mall
in Mumbai sports the world's first ATM to dispense diamond jewelry as
well as gold and silver coins, serving Indians' apparently unquenchable
appetite for jewels and precious metals.
The machine offers a range of 36 products, from 10-gram gold coins etched
with an image of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, to
diamond-studded pendants in the shape of a swastika, which in India is
an ancient religious symbol of unity.
Gitanjali Group, the company behind the machine, has focused on
convenience and, apparently, on creating the perception that these are
everyday purchases. Sanjeev Agarwal, the company's chief executive,
said it planned to set up 75 such ATMs in shopping centers, airports
and at Hindu temples. The machines accept either cash or credit cards.
Jammy Gagrat, a 47-year-old businessman, sees cause for concern:
"This machine is going to be a problem for the gents. Ladies are
going to keep on buying more and more every time they come here."
India is easily the largest consumer of gold, purchasing well over
1,000 tons last year, according to the World Gold Council.
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Posted on
2011/11/6 20:22:08 ( 1264 reads )
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WASHINGTON, DC, USA, October 22, 2011 (huffingtonpost.com): Contrary to
common perception, violence worldwide is diminishing. [HPI note:
Violence per person is diminishing; see the numbers at source.]
Yes, there's still bloodshed nearly everywhere you look--Africa,
Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, the US, Mexico and even Norway--but
historically, we've never had it this peaceful. The reality is not
painted in the bloody anecdotes that make "good copy" for the
news media, but demonstrated in the black and white of spreadsheets and
historical documents. The statistics show dramatic reductions in war
deaths, family violence, racism, rape, murder and all sorts of mayhem.
It's the story of a world moving away from violence.
Prominent Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker writes, "The decline
of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated
development in the history of our species." His new book,
"The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined,"
posits that a smarter, more educated world is becoming more peaceful in
several statistically significant ways. His findings are based on
peer-reviewed studies published by other academics based on data from
graveyards, surveys and historical records.
As an example: The number of people killed in battle--calculated per
100,000 population--has dropped by 1,000-fold over the centuries as
civilizations evolved. Before there were organized countries, battles
killed on average more than 500 out of every 100,000 people. In 19th
century France, it was 70. In the 20th century, with two world wars and
a few genocides, it was 60. Now battlefield deaths are down to
three-tenths of a person per 100,000.
(A long article on this interesting subject can be found at source.)
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Posted on
2011/11/6 20:22:02 ( 3209 reads )
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ARGENTINA, June 11, 2011 (latin american affairs): Hastinapur has a
total area of twelve acres. Its population consists of a dozen Indian
Gods and an equal number of Argentine human beings.
Some of the Indian Gods reside in authentic temples filled with the
scent of Indian agarbatties while others stay outdoor enjoying the
fragrance of the flowers from the garden. Some are sitting or standing
on the pedestals and others hang on the sides of walls and pillars. The
Gods who have their own temples include Ganesh, Krishna, Surya,
Narayana and Siva.
Since it is Hastinapur, there is a temple for Pandavas too. Hastinapur
is clearly a place fit for the Gods, who should be pleased with the cleanliness
of the place, the serene surroundings and the green garden with
Rosewood trees. The only noise comes from the hundreds of birds nesting
in the trees. Then there is the soft music of the devotees who sing
Bhajans. It is indeed a divine place which inspires sacred thoughts and
holy spirit. Ganesh stands out in white against the greenery of the
garden...
For more on this idyllic plot of India in South America, click on
source, above.
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Posted on
2011/11/6 20:21:56 ( 1258 reads )
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Upon attaining enlightenment, a sage who lived in austere simplicity
was asked by the devas what he would like as a boon. "Nothing,
" he replied, "I aspire for nothing at all." But the
devas would not accept the refusal. They insisted that he choose
something. The solitaire, however, was unyielding. "What can I ask
for? I have no desire. I have everything I sought." But after much
angelic insistence, he relented. "Grant me whatever you feel like,
" he said. With the ball firmly in their court, the divine agents
pronounced, "Whomsoever you touch will be cured. The dead will
regain life, and wilted plants will bloom forth in full health wherever
you walk." "All right, " the solitaire said, "if
you are so generous, be a little kind. Let all that happen with the
touch of my shadow instead. I should not be aware of the good I do,
lest it make me proud, turning this boon into a curse."
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Posted on
2011/11/5 20:25:03 ( 2224 reads )
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GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA, November 2, 2011(The Sun Daily): Thousands of
Hindu devotees made their way to the Sri Arulmigu Ganesha temple, near
Vale of Tempe, during its re-consecration ceremony today. The five-day
event, which is celebrated once every 12 years, started Saturday, and
saw devotees flocking to the temple to pray and bring offerings for
blessings.
With thousands of people attending ceremony, some as far as Kedah and
Perak, it was seen to be a pre-Thaipusam event. The culmination of the
ceremony occurred when the temple priests sprinkled scented water from
the roof of the temple to the congregation.
It is believed when the holy water is pour over the dome of the temple,
Lord Garuda would appear in the sky, as an eagle, to bless the prayers.
During the ceremony, an eagle indded appeared in the sky during the
ceremony as the devotees put their palms together in prayer.
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Posted on
2011/11/5 20:24:56 ( 1836 reads )
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Indian Express
NEPAL, November 5, 2011 (by Yubaraj Ghimire for the Indian Express):
Nepal was declared a secular state more than five years ago, but
politicians' use of religion is still strong. On Vijayadashami day,
October 6, President Ram Baran Yadav offered prasad to senior
government officials and others in his office, following a practice of
the monarchs before Nepal became a secular republic. A month earlier,
he visited the temple of Kumari, considered a living goddess, in the
capital, with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai at his side,
representing the state. Meanwhile the former king, Gyanendra, has been
prevented from visiting the temple in an individual's capacity for
fears he might be awarded literally royal treatment.
The Maoist insurgency that toppled the old regime in Nepal apparently
had an anti-religion component. Instances were alleged of Maoists
destroying sacred murtis, setting fire to a Sanskrit library with rare
manuscripts, and even killing some people observing Hindu rituals to
mourn their parents.
But opposition is mounting. Some walls in public places are now painted
with slogans demanding Nepal's return to Hindu nationhood. "We
will not accept secularism," reads the common slogan coined by
Rashtriya Dharma Jagaran Samiti. The Samiti has been active across the
nation, supported by India's Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which
functions in Nepal as "Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh." Meanwhile,
human rights groups are lobbying for a debate in the CA--which also
functions as the legislature--on a pending notice on the right to adopt
a religion of choice. With the Nepalese Maoists' stand that religion is
a "personal affair," the lobbyists hope Maoists accede.
Culture Minister Gopal Kiranti, who was responsible for the
Pashupatinath temple fiasco when he attempted to appoint priests from
another tradition than those who have served the temple for centuries,
recently named a comrade to manage and regulate activities in the
Dakshinkali temple, one of the most revered Shakti Peeths, which
attracts huge crowds year round. Many see this as a step toward
bringing all big temples under the party's control and thus depriving
the "Hindu Nepal" campaigners of their most effective
platforms. But this is also likely to trigger a debate on the relation
between religion and politics.
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Posted on
2011/11/15 19:06:40 ( 1633 reads )
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MUMBAI, INDIA, October 29, 2011 (The Hindu): The country has seen over
a quarter of a million farmers' suicides between 1995 and 2010. The
National Crime Records Bureau's latest report on 'Accidental Deaths
& Suicides in India' places the number for 2010 at 15,964. That
brings the cumulative 16-year total from 1995 -- when the NCRB started
recording farm suicide data -- to 256,913, the worst-ever recorded wave
of suicides of this kind in human history.
Maharashtra posts a dismal picture with over 50,000 farmers killing
themselves in the country's richest State in that period. It also
remains the worst State for such deaths for a decade now. Close to
two-thirds of all farm suicides have occurred in five States:
Maharashtra, Karnataka, A.P., Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The data show clearly that the last eight years were much worse than
the preceding eight. On average, the number of farmers killing
themselves each year between 2003 and 2010 is 1,825 higher than the
numbers that took their lives in the earlier period from 1995 - 2002.
Which is alarming since the total number of farmers is declining
significantly. Compared to the 1991 Census, the 2001 Census saw a drop
of over seven million in the population of cultivators (main workers).
In other words, farm suicides are rising through the period of India's
agrarian crisis, even as the number of farmers is shrinking.
[HPI note: Suicides happen due to extreme poverty and unpayable debts.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers'_suicides_in_India ]
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