News from Hindu Press International
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Posted on 2013/11/27 17:50:00 ( 375 reads )
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WISCONSIN, USA, November 24, 2013 (RNS): HPI Note: This ruling, if it
stands, could impact any Hindu priests who receive a cash housing allowance
as part of their compensation and which they have been claiming as
tax-exempt. It specifically does not change the tax situation for priests
who live in temple-provided housing, however we advise consultation with
the temple's accountant on this point.
Religion News Service article:
A federal judge has ruled that an Internal Revenue Service exemption that
allows clergy to shield a portion of their salary from federal income taxes
is unconstitutional. The clergy housing exemption applies to an estimated
44,000 ministers, priests, rabbis, imams and others. If the ruling stands,
some clergy members could experience an estimated 5 to 10 percent cut in
take-home pay.
The suit was filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation
on grounds that the housing allowance violates the separation of church and
state and the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The group's
founders have said that if tax-exempt religious groups are allowed a
housing subsidy, other tax-exempt groups, such as FFRF, should get one,
too.
U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb on Friday (Nov. 22) ruled in their
favor, saying the exemption "provides a benefit to religious persons
and no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a
special burden on religious exercise."
The case, decided in the District Court for the Western District Of
Wisconsin, will likely be appealed to the the Chicago-based 7th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the states of Wisconsin, Illinois
and Indiana. The housing allowances of pastors in Wisconsin remain
unaffected after Crabb stayed the ruling until all appeals are exhausted.
Crabb also ruled in 2010 that the National Day of Prayer was
unconstitutional.
The exemption is worth about $700 million per year, according to the Joint
Committee on Taxation Estimate of Federal Tax Expenditure.
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Posted on 2013/11/27 17:49:51 ( 351 reads )
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Attach yourself to Him who is free from all attachments. Bind yourself to
that bond so all other bonds may be broken.
-- Tirukkural 350
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Posted on 2013/11/24 18:48:19 ( 1021 reads )
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BALI, INDONESIA, November 22, 2013 (opposingviews.com): A Christian woman
was sentenced to a prison term of 14 months in Bali, where the majority of
people practice Hinduism, after she called offerings "dirty and
disgusting," the Supreme Court of Indonesia announced.
"The defendant Rusgiani, who is also known as Yohana, has been proven
validly and convincingly guilty of purposefully and publicly expressing
herself in a way to ignite conflict and defame a certain religion in
Indonesia," said chief judge Anak Agung Ketut Anom Wirakanta during
the trial at the Denpasar District Court. "[The judges] have sentenced
the defendant to one year and two months in prison."
According to the Jakarta Globe, the written ruling was published by the
Supreme Court earlier this month, although it was delivered on May 14 at
the Denpasar District Court. Rusgiani was arrested in Bali in January, and
faces a prison term of 14 months, two years less than what prosecutors
demanded.
On Aug. 25, 2012, Rusgiani, who had been living in Bali for three months at
the time of the incident, went to the home of Ni Nengah Suliati in Jimbaran
to pray for Suliati's sick mother-in-law.
Rusgiani noticed Canang Sari, daily offerings made by Hindus of Bali to
thank the Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa (the "All-In-One God"), on the
street as she left the house, Jakarta Globe reported.
"God cannot enter this house because there is canang here,"
Rusigiani said. "Canang is disgusting and dirty. My God is rich, He
doesn't need offerings."
Daily offerings usually include rice, flowers, bananas, and betel leaf.
Bali police named her a suspect after receiving a report from Suliati and
charged her with Article 156 of the Criminal Code, or the blasphemy law of
Indonesia, which states that "a person who expresses feelings of
hostility, hatred or contempt against one or more groups of the Indonesian
population shall be punished with a maximum imprisonment of four years or a
maximum fine of Rp 300 [$0.03]."
No appeal will be filed by either side.
"The jail sentence is not for revenge or meant to torture [her], but
it is a preventive, corrective, repressive and educative sentence to make
the perpetrator realize what she has done and will not repeat it,"
Anom said, reading the ruling out loud.
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Posted on 2013/11/24 18:48:13 ( 543 reads )
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Religion
News Service
KENTUCKY, USA, November 22, 2013 (Religion News Service): HPI Note: While
this lawsuit has only a remote chance of succeeding, if it did there would
be an impact on Hindu temples in the US, many of whom are
"churches" under the IRS rules and not required to file income
tax forms at all. Donations to temples would remain tax exempt, but they
would be required to file the extensive Form 990, which discloses a great
deal of information about the group's finances. The IRS use of the term
"church" includes organizations of any religion which meets
certain criteria.
RNS report:
Nonbelievers are challenging the Internal Revenue Service's special
exemptions for religious organizations in a federal court in Kentucky,
saying churches and other religious groups should have the same financial
rules as other nonprofit groups.
If they prevail, it will change the tax-exempt status of churches and other
religious organizations, and require the same transparency of donors,
salaries and other expenditures that secular nonprofits must currently
meet.
"This is a very strong case," said Dave Muscato, public relations
director for American Atheists, a national advocacy group and lead
plaintiff in the case. "It seems to be straight-up discrimination on
the basis of religion."
American Atheists is joined in the suit by Atheists of Northern Indiana and
Atheist Archives of Kentucky. Oral arguments were heard Thursday (Nov. 21)
in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in
Covington.
The case centers around who must file IRS Form 990, an annual reporting
statement that provides information on a group's mission, programs and
finances.
Current tax law requires all tax-exempt organizations to file a Form 990
financial report -- except churches and church-related organizations. A few
state, political and educational organizations are exempt as well if their
annual revenues fall below certain amounts.
This means the IRS treats religious organizations differently than it does
all other organizations, the suit holds. It claims the IRS policy is a
violation of the First Amendment and the due process promised under the
Fifth Amendment.
IRS spokesman Anthony Burke said the agency's policy is not to comment on
pending litigation.
The suit argues that religious organizations receive preferential treatment
because they do not have to withhold income tax from compensation to
clergy, reveal staff salaries, or disclose the names of donors who give
more than $5,000.
The plaintiffs allege that because they must reveal the names of major
donors, they are hindered in the amount of money they can raise.\
"We have donors who tell us, 'I would like to give more than this but
I don't want people to know I am an atheist,'" Muscato said.
"That is hurting us to be held to that different standard."
The suit also alleges that, because religious organizations do not file
Form 990, there is little proof that the organizations' activities benefit
the public and should therefore be tax-exempt. It holds that such
"subsidization of religious entities" costs taxpayers $71 billion
per year.
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Posted on 2013/11/24 18:48:06 ( 491 reads )
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There was once a wise man who lived simply. His spartan food habits
reflected this. He had a friend who, being a sycophant of the king, lived
in great luxury. One day this friend called on the wiseman while he was
eating. Looking at the food, the friend said, "My friend, if you can
please the king like me, you will be free from this wretched food."
The wise man smiled and replied, "My friend, if you can be pleased
with this simple food, you can be free from the wretched job of pleasing
the king."
-- Anonymous
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Posted on 2013/12/7 17:13:44 ( 295 reads )
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AUSTRALIA, November 16, 2013 (The Australian): HPI Note: This article
follows on the one yesterday about the sale of a stolen Siva Nataraj to an
Australian museum. Only now is the scale of the smuggling of stolen
treasures from India becoming apparent.
A little more than two years ago, in August 2011, a small, delicate Madonna
and child ivory carving originally from the former Portuguese territory of
Timor arrived at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). Canberra's temple
of high art had paid $US35,000 for the 250-year-old Catholic icon with the
expectation it would round out its collection of religious antiquities.
Within weeks of the piece emerging from its packing crate, however, the man
who sold it to the gallery was intercepted at Frankfurt airport and
arrested on an Interpol warrant.
It was an abrupt and ignominious end to the jet-setting adventures of
Indian-born US resident Subhash Kapoor, who for almost four decades had
wooed the world's art elite from his shop Art of the Past, on Manhattan's
Upper East Side, and from numerous other New York addresses. For the next
nine months, Kapoor was held in Germany, until mid-July last year when he
was extradited to Chennai, India, where investigators allege he is the
mastermind of a vast international antiquities looting empire.
Within days of Kapoor's arrival in India, US Homeland Security raided Art
of the Past and other premises controlled by him and family members.
Initially they valued the cache of ancient Asian treasures found there at
$US20 million but subsequently came to describe Kapoor as "one of the
most prolific commodities smugglers in the world today" presiding over
a $US100m empire.
Former NGA director Brian Kennedy, now director of Toledo Museum of Art,
went further. Busting Kapoor, he said, was merely the start of revelations
about antiquity theft and trafficking from nations such as Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia and Indonesia. "It's a wave that's surely sweeping through
this region."
NGA management issued a statement admitting having acquired 21 objects but
stressing it was merely one of "at least 18 major international art
institutions" to have done so. The NGA statement said: "The
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the
Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, DC, and the Art
Institute of Chicago have acquired works of art through gifts or
[purchases] from Mr Kapoor."
Much more information at 'source.'
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Posted on 2013/12/7 17:13:37 ( 305 reads )
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CHENNAI, INDIA, December 6, 2013 (rsschennai.blogspot): HPI note: This is a
very long article on the unusual appearance of a full-fledged college for
Muslim women in the famed Hindu pilgrimage destination of Tirupati.
A news item appeared in the newspapers regarding the construction of a big
complex of 7 stories near Thondavada village about 7 miles from Tirupati in
the 2nd week of September 2013. The purpose of the building was not
mentioned. At the same time a news item was being circulated on the
Internet on the above complex. It carried the photos of the construction
and also provided the background. Ms. Shaik Nowhera, a self proclaimed
business women has undertaken the said construction. This development gave
rise to apprehension in the minds of the general public as they had no clue
about the purpose of that building. About 8 months back a display board was
put up in front of the building with the name International Islamic
University for Women and College and School for Muslim Women. This has
invariably given rise to serious concerns to several well meaning people
and Hindu devotees in India and abroad.
Ms. Shaik Nowhera is founder and C.E.O. of the Heera group of companies.
Her website states she was born in Kalluru village (A.P.) in 1973 and that
at the age of 19 years she started teaching Quran and Hadith and practicing
Dawah. She started an Islamic School at Tirupati town in the name of
Madrasa Niswan with around 150 students. It further states that free
education was being given in that school for poor Muslim girls also and
that in order to meet the expenditure, she started the Heera group of
companies. The Mission Statement of Heera Islamic Group states, "it is
guided by Imam, following Shariah Law engaged in Halal avoiding Haram."
Tirumala Tirupati Divya Kshetram is revered by millions of Hindus all over
the world. The temple town attracts about 20 million people every year on a
conservative estimate. The threat perception to the temple and town is high
according to security agencies.
Some questions have arisen as to the legitimacy of the buildings
construction.
For the full report on this issue, see 'source' above.
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Posted on 2013/12/7 17:13:31 ( 231 reads )
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Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like
trying to cover the world with wool to avoid the pain of walking on stones
and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.
-- Sri Ramana Maharishi (1879-1950), South Indian mystic
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Posted on 2013/12/6 16:53:10 ( 356 reads )
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AUSTRALIA, December 6, 2013 (The Australian): The National Gallery of Australia
will launch legal proceedings against disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor
after it was confirmed yesterday the gallery's prized 900-year-old dancing
Shiva was stolen from India.The $5 million bronze, which last night was
still on display at the entry to the gallery's Indian Gallery, was the
first item cited in the New York Supreme Court yesterday where the
long-time shop manager for Kapoor pleaded guilty to six counts of trading
in stolen property worth $US35 million ($38.8m).
Aaron Freedman, 41, admitted creating fake documentation and arranging
shipping for antiquities stolen from India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cambodia
and other countries. He admitted creating false collecting history
documents and liaising with buyers, including Canberra's NGA. The gallery's
bronze Shiva Nataraja was the first item cited in the court documents,
which revealed it was "owned by the Central Government of India"
after being stolen from Sivan Temple in Ariyalur District of Tamil Nadu,
southern India. The theft took place between January and November 2006,
after which the Shiva was shipped to New York. Kapoor is being held in
India where he is accused of being the mastermind of a $100m antiquities
looting enterprise.
Under the terms of UNESCO's movable Cultural Heritage treaty to which
Australia and India are signatories, all items found stolen will need to be
returned. A spokesman for Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed that
the gallery was co-operating with the Indian high commission.
The new fact to emerge is that Kapoor and Freedman were also involved in
the sale of another stolen idol to the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) in
Singapore. According to the complaint, a 1,000-year bronze idol of Uma
Parmeshvari was stolen from a temple in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu and
was illicitly transported to the U.S. In February 2007, Kapoor sold the
sculpture to the ACM for US $650,000 and shipped it to Singapore.
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Posted on 2013/12/6 16:52:55 ( 331 reads )
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LUCKNOW, INDIA, December 4, 2013 (Deccan Herald): Varanasi-based famous
Kashi Vishwanath Temple management will distribute hundreds of thousands of
liters of milk offered to Lord Shiva among patients and other needy people.
A temple official said the offered milk will be distributed among women,
patients at mental hospital and prisoners.
"Lakhs of litres of milk is offered to Lord Shiva during Shravana
month, when people hold rudrabhisheka (a special puja during which milk is
offered to the Shivalingam)," the official told Deccan Herald from
Varanasi on Wednesday.
"Care will be taken to make sure that no impurities get mixed with the
milk," the official said. "It will be stored in hygienic
conditions so that the needy people can get clean and pure milk," he
added.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple, which stands on the western bank of the
Ganges, is the centre of faith for millions of Hindus, who throng it from
across the world. The Jyotirlinga of Shiva, Vishweshwara or Vishwanatha,
enshrined in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, is considered as one of the
holiest temples in the country.
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Posted on 2013/12/6 16:52:47 ( 232 reads )
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You may develop a thousand virtues and be reckoned as the greatest in the
land. But the lotus of your heart will not blossom until you receive the
grace of the Guru, the grace of God!
-- Dada Sadhu Vaswani
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Posted on 2013/12/5 16:20:11 ( 291 reads )
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ALLAHABAD, INDIA, December 3, 2013 (Indian Express): A red sandalwood
rosary, which is said to have been given to Sant Kabir in the 15th century
by his guru, has gone missing from the sanctum of Kabir Ashram in the
Chetganj area of Varanasi. A monk and two of his accomplices, said to be
hailing from Thailand and regular visitors to the ashram, are allegedly
involved in the theft. They are said to have replaced the original rosary
with the commonly found Rudraksha rosary before they left the ashram. The
theft occurred Saturday but came to light Sunday morning.
The monk requested five minutes meditation in the sanctum. When the door
was opened, the two others accompanying him began distributing money to
some of the priests and a manager present there. Nobody suspected anything
till Sunday morning. When the sanctum was opened, the rosary was found to
have been replaced by a Rudraksha rosary," said Mahant Vivekdas.
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Posted on 2013/12/5 16:20:05 ( 318 reads )
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LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS, December 4, 2013 (brill.com): The five-volume
Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism -with first volume published in 2009 and
to be completed in 2013 with Vol. 5- is a thematic encyclopedia, presenting
the latest research on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions in
original essays written by the world's foremost scholars on Hinduism. The
Encyclopedia explicitly adopts an interdisciplinary and pluralistic
approach. The Encyclopedia aims at a balanced and even-handed view of
Hinduism, recognizing the tensions inherent in the academic examination of
Hinduism. It emphasizes that Hinduism is a conglomerate of regional
religious traditions and at the same time a global world religion. Hinduism
is also both an ancient historical tradition and a living tradition
flourishing in the contemporary world. It is an oral tradition, yet one
with a huge number of sacred texts at its basis. Hinduism is both a
religious identity and an object of academic scholarship.
Illustrated with maps and photographs, Brill's Encyclopedia presents the
learned philosophical and theological traditions of Hinduism as well as its
many folk traditions. Covering the spread of Hinduism over the last two
hundred years to all the continents as well as the interaction of Hinduism
with other religions, it also portrays the various responses of Hindu
traditions to a number of contemporary issues of great relevance today,
such as feminism, human rights, egalitarianism, bioethics, and so on.
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Posted on 2013/12/5 16:19:59 ( 290 reads )
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In thinking 'This is I' and 'That is mine' one binds himself with himself,
as does a bird with a snare.
-- Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitreya Upanishad 3.2
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Posted on 2013/12/4 17:49:15 ( 414 reads )
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MALAYSIA, 03 Dec 2013,(by Lim Guan Eng, Malaysia Chronicle): Malaysians are
shocked that an ancient Hindu temple (Candi) belonging to the Sri Vijaya
era, about 1200 years, was demolished by a developer to make way for a
housing project in Sungei Batu area of Kedah. This was one of the temples rebuilt
in the 1970s using materials from the pre-historic era.. Even the nearby
Indian residents of the Sungei Batu estate were oblivious to this
destruction.
The matter was brought to public attention when one Nadarajah, a researcher
on Bujang Valley history, discovered the disappearance of this Candi a few
days back. Last Saturday, Prof. P. Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister ll of
the Penang State government, who had earlier researched on the Chola
presence in Bujang Valley, confirmed the destruction of the temple. A
nearby Museum official revealed that the destruction of the temple could
have been avoided had the land office in Merbok monitored and notified the
presence of this historical structure to the developer. However, this was
not done and what more the developer was given the approval to proceed with
the clearance of the site.
Bujang Valley is a world famous historical site. In this sprawling area of
hundreds of acres, remains of Malaysia's ancient history of Buddhism and
Hinduism are evident. Some historians and archaeologists are of the opinion
that the Bujang Valley represents the beginning of early Malay
civilization. The Ministry of Tourism and Culture and in particular the
Department of Heritage is urged to take immediate steps to list Bujang Valley
as a UNESCO Heritage.Though the Kedah State Government has issued a stop
worker on the developer, stop work order is not enough; measures must be
taken to see whether the agency officials and the developer have broken any
laws and to be prosecuted.
Lim Guan Eng is the DAP sec-gen & Penang Chief Minister
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Posted on 2013/12/4 17:49:07 ( 355 reads )
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BANGALORE, November 16, 2013 (New Indian Express): It may be of
considerable interest in these days of national awakening to consider in
brief the theory of nationalism propounded by Swami Vivekananda, one of the
greatest of India's national leaders in modern times. Under the state of
affairs obtaining at present in our country, we are accustomed to equate a
national leader with a leader of a political party or with one who has
distinguished himself by lighting the government and by courting jail and
sufferings of various kinds. Swami Vivekananda was not, however, the leader
of any political party, nor had he led any political agitation. Yet in the
evolution of Indian nationalism Swami Vivekananda occupies a very important
place. In all the big cities that the Swami Visited after his return from
the West, crowds, unprecedented in the histories of these cities, gathered
to listen to the Swami's addresses.
At the present day we are accustomed to mammoth meetings held in open air
in connection with the visits of well-known political leaders; but in those
days such things were unknown. That the Swami could for the first time
evoke an enthusiasm of such a magnitude without the help of any all-India
organization or planned propaganda, shows positively that there was in the
personality and message of the Swami something that had a startling appeal
to the conscience of India. There was no doubt a strong religious strain in
this appeal, but there was something more in it. Very large sections of
people who were attracted to the meetings that the Swami addressed were not
perhaps much interested in the philosophical doctrines expounded by him,
but they felt that he stood for something of much wider interest than
abstract philosophies.
If we would enquire into what this wider interest was, we would be led to
the spirit of nationalism that the Swami represented. Before the Swami's
time many an Indian had gone to the West; but all of them had gone there to
learn, to admire everything that was of the West, and to come back and tell
their countrymen that they were a worthless lot and that their only hope
lay in following the footsteps of the West. Our educated men, who had been
educated into this state of mind, watched with wonder the fortunes of this
strange young monk in the West, and were surprised to see how he
contradicted all their preconceived notions by his example. For he went to
the West not to learn but to teach, and his teachings were listened to with
respect by large numbers of cultured men belonging to that very race which
dominated India politically and whose cultural domination, too, educated
India was gradually learning to accept.
In the very centers of Western civilization they found him declaring quite
fearlessly, and with the conviction of a prophet, how India had plenty to
teach the West, and how India alone, of all nations in the World, could do
this particular work. It was in fact this bold stand that the Swami took,
the courage with which he declared a truth which no one till his time was
bold enough to declare, that created a stir wherever he went, and reused the
sleeping Indian nation to a state of self-consciousness once more. And it
is on the basis of this - his re-assertion of India's cultural self-respect
- that the claim of Swami Vivekananda to be one of the greatest national
leaders of modern India rests.
Extracts from Vedanta Kesari, an English monthly of the Ramakrishna Order,
published from Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai.
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Posted on 2013/12/4 17:49:00 ( 271 reads )
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"Think twice before you talk. Think thrice before you act."
-- Sri Sri Sri Sivaratnapuri, Tiruchi Mahaswamigal, spiritual head of
Kailasa Ashrama, Bangalore
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Posted on 2013/11/30 16:23:16 ( 497 reads )
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PEARLAND, TEXAS, November 14, 2013 (Indo American News): Sri Meenakshi
Temple is celebrating the renovation of its original Ganesh Temple with the
newly constructed granite sanctum and facility. As dictated by the
traditional religious mores of Agama Sastras, consecration and
sanctification of the new Sannidhi will be dedicated through the
ritualistic grandeur of the Kumbabhishekam. The festivities are planned
through a week of elaborate religious observance from November 22, with the
grand finale on Friday, the 29th.
It is the first traditional Hindu religious landmark in the Southwest
United States. What started in 1977 as a humble dream for a small group of
supporters has gradually blossomed into a magnificent complex meeting the
religious needs of the vast, growing community. This is the first such
temple outside India with Goddess Meenakshi as the main Deity, constructed
with guidance and assistance from the original Sri Meenakshi temple in
Madurai, India. Click here for Hinduism Today's 1982 report on
the temple's consecration.
Before the main temple was built, and as the conventional custom of Hindu
faith dictates, a small Sannidhi, sanctum for Lord Ganesha was consecrated,
as shown in the picture, in 1979. Worshippers visiting the temple begin
their darshan, offering obeisance at the Ganesh temple first, thus
attesting to its sentimental significance.
The founders struggled very hard during the initial stages to raise funds,
own a piece of land and construct a small Ganesh temple. It was a modest,
free standing sheltered sanctum where pujas were conducted by conversant,
local volunteers as the devotees stood outside in the open and prayed. The
main temple was constructed in 1982 followed by the majestic and ornate
gopurams at the four entrances along with the traditional surrounding
walls.
The Goddess Temple has become a sacred Indian monument in Pearland. To
quote Texas Traveler "seeing a gleaming white Hindu temple rising from
the grass in the middle of Texas cornfield is a thing to behold,"
should give an impression of how it is perceived as an established landmark
of the area.
The temple architect, Padmashree Muthiah Stapathi designed the new project
as instructed by our scriptural guidelines, and taking into consideration
the needs of our growing devotee population. Ashok Mungara, our local
architect has been in charge of the construction that should be completed
and ready to be inaugurated at the Kumbabhishekam. The new construction
includes a Vimanam above the Sannidhi, sixteen Shodasa Ganapathy Pillars
and a Gopuram at the entrance, all completely built in granite, following
the classic customs of old Indian temples and enhancing and complementing
the architectural magnificence of our main temple. The granite brings in
the splendor and majestic elegance of our historic temple traditions, while
the skylights allow openness and a fabulous view of the pristine Vimanam
from inside the hall, thus blending centuries old antiquity with modernity
of the twenty-first century America.
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Posted on 2013/11/30 16:23:09 ( 421 reads )
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PUNE, INDAI, November 24, 2013 (Indian Express): Leading up to Sadhu
Vaswani's 134th birth anniversary on November 25, a five-day celebration
commenced on Wednesday with a peace march. On Saturday, a Rath Yatra, a
chariot of peace for the unity of all religions, was also organized from
Sadhu Vaswani's Sacred Samadhi. Carrying the life-like statue of Sadhu
Vaswani, the chariot travelled through about five km from Council Hall ended
at the samadhi. The peace march saw a gathering of more than 7,000 people.
Addressing the followers, Dada Vaswani said, "There will be no peace
on earth until we stop killing animals for the simple reason that if we can
kill an animal, we can kill a human being."
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Posted on 2013/11/30 16:23:03 ( 517 reads )
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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA, November 30, 2103 (Jacksonvill.com): The
distance was short but the trip was long, with music, dancing and "I
love Puja and Deepak" (the bride and groom) sunglasses. It took half
an hour or more for Tiny -- an elephant -- to carry Deepak Dugar across a
Ponte Vedra Beach parking lot Saturday to meet his bride. In wedding suit
and headdress called a pagh, Dugar and Tiny inched along amid a crowd of
family and friends waving hands and stepping high in a style of Punjabi
dance called bhangra. Sometimes the procession that symbolized travel
across India stopped altogether. The music and dancing never ceased.
For more of this entertaining report of an Indian-style wedding in an
unexpected place, click "source" above.
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Posted on 2013/11/30 16:22:56 ( 452 reads )
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Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.
-- Rabindranath Tagore, (1861-1941) celebrated Bengali writer who won the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.
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Posted on 2013/11/29 16:54:04 ( 697 reads )
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LALMONIRHAT, BANGLADESH, November 29, 2013 (The Daily Star): Hindus came
under attack allegedly by activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra
Shibir at Patgram upazila in Lalmonirhat for the second time in a month
yesterday. The attackers beat up at least 12 women and children and torched
and looted at least five shops and two houses at Ghoshpara village of
Jongra union on the third day of the opposition-sponsored 71-hour blockade.
The incident fueled concerns over a fresh spell of attacks on the Hindus as
men of the village have fled in fear of further attacks
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Posted on 2013/11/29 16:53:58 ( 599 reads )
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SELANGOR, MALAYSIA, November 26, 2013 (The Star): The Selangor government
has decided to only award financial assistance to Hindu temples registered
with the Malaysian Hindu Sangam. In announcing the decision, Selangor
executive councillor for poverty and estate affairs V. Ganabatirau said the
Negri Sembilan, Perak and Malacca state governments had already implemented
this. "Hindu Sangam is the umbrella body to oversee the situation and
work together with the temples. We have set up a committee to monitor the
temples and Hindu Sangam will play an active role in it," he said.
Malaysian Hindu Sangam president Datuk R.S. Mohan Shan said currently only
600 temples in the state were registered with the organisation. Unofficial
statistics, however, reveal some 2,500 temples in Selangor. Both
Ganabatirau and Mohan were at the 2013 Selangor Hindu Temples forum in Shah
Alam, attended by some 400 temple committee members and Indian community
leaders.
In his speech, Mohan said the temple should play a big role in recognizing
communities around the temple. "Temple funds should be allocated for
the teaching of human values and religious classes. The poor should be
identified and help should be extended to them.
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Posted on 2013/12/13 18:18:09 ( 109 reads )
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INDIA, December 8, 2013 (The Hindu): (HPI Note: We include this and the
next item to show what is at stake in Tamil Nadu Government plan to take
over management of Chidambaram.)
Even as the appointment of Executive Officer by the State government to the
Chidambaram Natarajar Temple is locked in a legal battle, the officer
concerned has a sent a notice to the Podhu Diskshithars' Sabha seeking
clarification on a highly priced coral necklace donated recently by
devotees.
Last November, Chidambaram Sahari Ammal--Viswanatha Iyer family donated the
Italian red coral necklace set in 20 sovereigns of gold to the temple. The
value of the ornament is said to be US$563,000. The jewel is scheduled to
adorn the main Deity during the Ardhra Darshan festival that falls on
December 18.
Meanwhile, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR & CE)
Department- appointed Executive Officer of the temple K.Murugan has sent a
communication to Kasiraja Dikshithar, Sabha secretary, seeking
clarification on the necklace. It is customary in the HR & CE
Department-run temples that whenever valuables are donated to the temples
they must be handed over to the Executive Officer concerned and the full
description of the donated articles duly recorded. Once these formalities
are completed the articles would become the property of the temples.
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Posted on 2013/12/13 18:18:02 ( 119 reads )
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CHENNAI, INDIA, December 6, 2013 (The Hindu): DMK president M. Karunanidhi
on Friday urged the Tamil Nadu government to appoint a senior counsel to
argue the case of the appointment of Executive Officer (EO) to manage the
endowments and vast immovable property of the Sabhanayagar Temple, better
known as Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram. In a statement here, he said the
government should not remain indifferent to the issue because the order for
appointment of the EO was issued during the DMK regime.
"The order was issued as early as in 1987 when M.G. Ramachandran was
Chief Minister. Since Podu Dikshitars had obtained a stay it could not be
implemented. It came into force only in 2009," he said, adding the
government should not give room for the Dikshitars to appropriate the
situation in their favor. The DMK leader said both MGR and R.M. Veerappan,
who held the portfolio of the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments
Department, were believers and they decided to appoint an EO after AIADMK
member V.V. Swaminathan made serious allegations against the Dikshitars.
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Posted on 2013/12/13 18:17:55 ( 113 reads )
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AUSTRALIA, December 6, 2013 (Blacktown Sun): Organized by Blacktown Shree
Swaminarayan Temple, the kite festival raises money to set up special
classes to teach children about Indian culture. Spokesman Tej Patel said
Australian-born children needed to attend Indian language and culture
classes to learn about their roots and help make them better citizens.
"Shree Swaminarayan Temple keeps the spirit of Hinduism alive, through
the festival, to nurture Indian traditions and culture in young boys and
girls who are born outside India.
Mr. Patel said more than 5,000 people from across the country were expected
to attend the 2014 festival. "We have received hundreds of inquiries
from people and community organisations from Victoria, Queensland, South
Australia and Western Australia, besides NSW,'" he said. "That's
why we are holding the event at a bigger venue in Fairfield Showground
instead of Blacktown.
"The temple hopes to raise about $15,000 from the event to also
provide community services across western Sydney."
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Posted on 2013/12/13 18:17:49 ( 125 reads )
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We who have come from the East here have been told day after day in a
patronizing way that we ought to accept Christianity because Christian
nations are the most prosperous. We look about us and see England as the
most prosperous nation in the world, with her foot on the neck of 250
million Asiatics. We look back in history and see Christian Spain's wealth
beginning with the invasion of Mexico. Such prosperity comes from cutting
the throats of fellow men. At such a price the Hindu will not have
prosperity.
-- Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, at the
Parliament of the World's Religions, 1893
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Posted on 2013/12/12 16:30:11 ( 207 reads )
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BALI, November 11, 2013 (eturbo news): Bali's tourist industry is urging
the provincial administration to implement stricter regulations for tourist
visits to temples instead of banning them, saying tourism was fine as long
as the purity of places of worship was upheld. The statement was made in
connection with Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika's plan to halt the
national strategic tourism plans (KSPN) for sites on the island and to
exclude Hindu temples from tourist visits.
Head of the Bali office's Indonesian Tourism Industry Association (GIPI),
Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, said on Friday that the industry had discussed the
matter and decided that the strategy was necessary to promote the island's
tourism. Wijaya acknowledged that temple visits were one of Bali's main
attractions, as well as being sacred places, however saying, "We need
to behave well in every activity, including entering temples." He
added that restricting temples from public visits would be
counterproductive to all parties. "To the businesspeople and to the
locals. Because local tour guides, souvenir sellers and kiosk owners get a
living from tourists," he stated.
Hence, Wijaya said that the industry expected to speak directly with the
governor in relation to this matter. Tourists actually respected the
regulations in these places of worship, and would honor restrictions, such
as no entrance being allowed for menstruating women.
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Posted on 2013/12/12 16:30:04 ( 205 reads )
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, December 3, 2013 (Chicago Tribune): A group of Hindus
looking for a more permanent spiritual home are on track to build a temple
in Glenview (18 miles north of downtown Chicago, population 44,000). Site
plans by Hanuman Spiritual and Community Center, a Hindu nonprofit
organization, to construct a 37,200-square-foot, two-story building on 3.9
acres at 3623 West Lake Ave. have been approved by village trustees.
Mary Bak, planning and economic development director, said the facility
would be the first Hindu temple in Glenview. "It'd be great to have
them in the community," Bak said, adding that village trustees will
again consider the development at Tuesday's meeting.
The organization, which formed in 2009, includes 75 to 100 members and has
been looking to construct a cultural center for some time, according to
Lawrence Freedman, a lawyer representing the group. Freedman said the group
hopes to expand to a maximum of 400 people.
During an October public hearing, a few residents who live near the site
expressed concern over the height of the structure and their desire for the
developers to keep as much as greenery as possible. Some of the building's
spires would rise about 55 feet above the ground. Trustee Scott Britton,
who lives in the area of the proposed development, said he believes the
site is good for the temple.
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Posted on 2013/12/12 16:29:56 ( 186 reads )
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It is Divinity that shapes, not only your ends, but also your acts, your
words and thoughts. Your duty is to treat everybody, including yourself, as
a manifestation of the Lord.
-- Swami Sivananda (1887-1963), founder of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh
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Posted on 2013/12/11 16:52:36 ( 248 reads )
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NEW DELHI, December 5, 2013 (The Hindu): The Supreme Court on Thursday
reserved verdict (that is, did not issue a decision) on a batch of appeals
challenging the Tamil Nadu government's order appointing Executive Officer
to manage the affairs and properties of the Chidambaram Natarajar temple in
Tamil Nadu.
A Bench of Justices B.S. Chauhan and S.A. Bobde reserved judgment at the
conclusion of arguments by counsel for all the parties. Earlier senior
counsel R. Venkataramani, appearing for Podu Dikshitars (the clan of about
360 families who now manage the temple), contended that Podu Dikshitars
were a religious denomination as per Article 26 of the Constitution
"which guarantees right to establish and maintain institutions for
religious purposes." As far as the right of Podu Dikshitars to
administer the Natarajar temple as a distinct religious denomination was
concerned, this right had been recognised by the Supreme Court in its
judgment in 1952, he said. Mr. Venkataramani said the association of Podu
Dikshitars with the temple was more than 2,000 years old and it could not
be disputed that originally the task of offering worship and administering
the temple was entrusted to Podu Dikshitars.
Appearing for U. Arumugasamy, who is supporting the appointment of Executive
Officer, senior counsel Colin Gonsalves disputed the very claim of Podu
Dikshitars that they were a religious denomination within the meaning of
Article 26 of the Constitution. He argued that for declaring a religious
denomination one must follow a separate sect or a guru, but in this case
Dikshitars were not a separate sect as they were only worshippers of Lord
Shiva. He said worshippers of Lord Shiva and worshippers of Lord Vishnu
could be called as two groups but they could not be declared as a religious
denomination. He justified government's interference for maintenance of the
temple.
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Posted on 2013/12/11 16:52:30 ( 281 reads )
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LONDON, December 11, 2013 (NIERSR): This report, Caste discrimination and
harassment in Great Britain, by the National Institute of Economic and
Social Research was release in December, 2010, and is one of the important
research documents in the current public debate in England over possible
legislation to address caste discrimination. It includes 19 case studies
described at some length along with many shorter examples which give a good
insight into the issue of caste discrimination among Hindus, Sikhs, Muslim
and others who come from the Indian subcontinent. Following is the summary
at the beginning of the 113 page report, which may be downloaded at
"source" above.
Report Summary (from page vi):
The term caste is used to identify a number of different concepts, notably,
varna (a Hindu religious caste system), jati (an occupational caste system)
and biraderi (often referred to as a clan system). The examples of caste
discrimination identified related to jati. Caste awareness in Britain is
concentrated amongst people with roots in the Indian sub-continent (who
comprise five per cent of the population). It is not religion specific and
is subscribed to by (and affects) members of any or no religion.
The study identified evidence suggesting caste discrimination and
harassment of the type covered by the Equality Act 2010 in relation to:
* work (bullying, recruitment, promotion, task allocation;
* provision of services; and
* education (pupil on pupil bullying)1.
The study also identified evidence suggesting caste discrimination and
harassment which may fall outside the Equality Act 2010 in relation to
voluntary work, demeaning behavior and violence.
The caste discrimination and harassment identified in this study was by
higher castes against the lowest castes.
There is no clear evidence on whether the extent of caste discrimination
and harassment is changing. There are both positive and negative influences
at work.
To reduce caste discrimination and harassment the Government might take
educative or legislative approaches. Either would be useful in the public
sector. However, non-legislative approaches are less likely to be effective
in the private sector and do not assist those where the authorities
themselves are discriminating. Relying on the Indian community to take
action to reduce caste discrimination and harassment is problematic.
Equality Act 2010 provisions on religious discrimination cannot cover caste
discrimination and harassment as effectively as caste-specific provisions
would.
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Posted on 2013/12/11 16:52:19 ( 207 reads )
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Is there a deeper tragedy than that of a man immersed in the pursuit of the
not-self who has no time to realize the Divine Self within?
-- Sadhu Vaswani, (1879-1966) (/b) founder the Sadhu Vaswani Mission
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Posted on 2013/12/10 18:12:30 ( 334 reads )
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INDIA, December 3, 2013 (Niti Central): (HPI Note: Niti Central is not
exactly an "unbaised party" in reporting on this issue, but their
article is quite comprehensive.)
On Wednesday, December 4, the Supreme Court will decide the much sought
return of the sacred Nataraj temple at Chidambaram to its traditional
custodians, the Podu Dikshitars. The Chidambaram temple, where Shiva
eternally dances the dance of creation that maintains the stability of the
worlds, is a major landmark of India's Hindu civilisation, and Hindus have
long considered its takeover by the State Government as a religious
affront.
Other States have also taken over major Hindu temples in the country, on
grounds of alleged mismanagement, but in reality to control the rich
offerings by devotees. Not a single temple in a state of disrepair and
neglect has ever benefited from the solicitude of the secular State. It
goes without saying that no political party has ever dared interfere in the
management of the religious institutions of non-Hindu faiths.
All important dynasties, the Pallavas, Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras, lavished
devotion and generous grants on the temple and its priests. Parantaka Chola
laid the golden roof above the sanctum. Legend says the crystal linga,
'Spatika Linga,' that is worshipped six times daily, was gifted by Adi
Sankara. The saints Thirugnana Sambandar, Thiru Navukkarasar, Sundaramurti
Swamigal and Manickavasagar visited and sang in praise of Nataraja.
Rajendra Chola I, a descendant of Parantaka and son of Rajaraja Chola I,
gifted the entire village to the Dikshitars, as recorded in copper plates
(Epigraphica Indica - Karandai Plates). Thus the Brahmins assumed
responsibility for the temple puja and administration, and also the
judicial and administrative duties of the village.
The article then goes on to describe the state of the temple in the 18th,
19th and 20th centuries, and the relevant court cases which is up for
decision.
See "source" for the rest.
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Posted on 2013/12/10 18:12:23 ( 241 reads )
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"In the joy of others lies our own."
-- His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, (1921-) guru, BAPS Swaminarayan
Sanstha
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Posted on 2013/12/7 17:13:44 ( 442 reads )
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AUSTRALIA, November 16, 2013 (The Australian): HPI Note: This article
follows on the one yesterday about the sale of a stolen Siva Nataraj to an
Australian museum. Only now is the scale of the smuggling of stolen
treasures from India becoming apparent.
A little more than two years ago, in August 2011, a small, delicate Madonna
and child ivory carving originally from the former Portuguese territory of
Timor arrived at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). Canberra's temple
of high art had paid $US35,000 for the 250-year-old Catholic icon with the
expectation it would round out its collection of religious antiquities.
Within weeks of the piece emerging from its packing crate, however, the man
who sold it to the gallery was intercepted at Frankfurt airport and
arrested on an Interpol warrant.
It was an abrupt and ignominious end to the jet-setting adventures of
Indian-born US resident Subhash Kapoor, who for almost four decades had
wooed the world's art elite from his shop Art of the Past, on Manhattan's
Upper East Side, and from numerous other New York addresses. For the next
nine months, Kapoor was held in Germany, until mid-July last year when he
was extradited to Chennai, India, where investigators allege he is the
mastermind of a vast international antiquities looting empire.
Within days of Kapoor's arrival in India, US Homeland Security raided Art
of the Past and other premises controlled by him and family members.
Initially they valued the cache of ancient Asian treasures found there at
$US20 million but subsequently came to describe Kapoor as "one of the
most prolific commodities smugglers in the world today" presiding over
a $US100m empire.
Former NGA director Brian Kennedy, now director of Toledo Museum of Art,
went further. Busting Kapoor, he said, was merely the start of revelations
about antiquity theft and trafficking from nations such as Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia and Indonesia. "It's a wave that's surely sweeping through
this region."
NGA management issued a statement admitting having acquired 21 objects but
stressing it was merely one of "at least 18 major international art
institutions" to have done so. The NGA statement said: "The
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the
Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, DC, and the Art
Institute of Chicago have acquired works of art through gifts or
[purchases] from Mr Kapoor."
Much more information at 'source.'
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Posted on 2013/12/7 17:13:37 ( 443 reads )
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CHENNAI, INDIA, December 6, 2013 (rsschennai.blogspot): HPI note: This is a
very long article on the unusual appearance of a full-fledged college for
Muslim women in the famed Hindu pilgrimage destination of Tirupati.
A news item appeared in the newspapers regarding the construction of a big
complex of 7 stories near Thondavada village about 7 miles from Tirupati in
the 2nd week of September 2013. The purpose of the building was not
mentioned. At the same time a news item was being circulated on the
Internet on the above complex. It carried the photos of the construction
and also provided the background. Ms. Shaik Nowhera, a self proclaimed
business women has undertaken the said construction. This development gave
rise to apprehension in the minds of the general public as they had no clue
about the purpose of that building. About 8 months back a display board was
put up in front of the building with the name International Islamic
University for Women and College and School for Muslim Women. This has
invariably given rise to serious concerns to several well meaning people
and Hindu devotees in India and abroad.
Ms. Shaik Nowhera is founder and C.E.O. of the Heera group of companies.
Her website states she was born in Kalluru village (A.P.) in 1973 and that
at the age of 19 years she started teaching Quran and Hadith and practicing
Dawah. She started an Islamic School at Tirupati town in the name of
Madrasa Niswan with around 150 students. It further states that free
education was being given in that school for poor Muslim girls also and
that in order to meet the expenditure, she started the Heera group of
companies. The Mission Statement of Heera Islamic Group states, "it is
guided by Imam, following Shariah Law engaged in Halal avoiding
Haram."
Tirumala Tirupati Divya Kshetram is revered by millions of Hindus all over
the world. The temple town attracts about 20 million people every year on a
conservative estimate. The threat perception to the temple and town is high
according to security agencies.
Some questions have arisen as to the legitimacy of the buildings
construction.
For the full report on this issue, see 'source' above.
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Posted on 2013/12/7 17:13:31 ( 365 reads )
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Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like
trying to cover the world with wool to avoid the pain of walking on stones
and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.
-- Sri Ramana Maharishi (1879-1950), South Indian mystic
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Posted on 2013/12/6 16:53:10 ( 527 reads )
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AUSTRALIA, December 6, 2013 (The Australian): The National Gallery of
Australia will launch legal proceedings against disgraced art dealer
Subhash Kapoor after it was confirmed yesterday the gallery's prized
900-year-old dancing Shiva was stolen from India.The $5 million bronze,
which last night was still on display at the entry to the gallery's Indian
Gallery, was the first item cited in the New York Supreme Court yesterday
where the long-time shop manager for Kapoor pleaded guilty to six counts of
trading in stolen property worth $US35 million ($38.8m).
Aaron Freedman, 41, admitted creating fake documentation and arranging
shipping for antiquities stolen from India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Cambodia
and other countries. He admitted creating false collecting history
documents and liaising with buyers, including Canberra's NGA. The gallery's
bronze Shiva Nataraja was the first item cited in the court documents,
which revealed it was "owned by the Central Government of India"
after being stolen from Sivan Temple in Ariyalur District of Tamil Nadu,
southern India. The theft took place between January and November 2006,
after which the Shiva was shipped to New York. Kapoor is being held in
India where he is accused of being the mastermind of a $100m antiquities
looting enterprise.
Under the terms of UNESCO's movable Cultural Heritage treaty to which
Australia and India are signatories, all items found stolen will need to be
returned. A spokesman for Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed that
the gallery was co-operating with the Indian high commission.
The new fact to emerge is that Kapoor and Freedman were also involved in
the sale of another stolen idol to the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) in
Singapore. According to the complaint, a 1,000-year bronze idol of Uma
Parmeshvari was stolen from a temple in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu and
was illicitly transported to the U.S. In February 2007, Kapoor sold the
sculpture to the ACM for US $650,000 and shipped it to Singapore.
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Posted on 2013/12/6 16:52:55 ( 516 reads )
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LUCKNOW, INDIA, December 4, 2013 (Deccan Herald): Varanasi-based famous
Kashi Vishwanath Temple management will distribute hundreds of thousands of
liters of milk offered to Lord Shiva among patients and other needy people.
A temple official said the offered milk will be distributed among women,
patients at mental hospital and prisoners.
"Lakhs of litres of milk is offered to Lord Shiva during Shravana
month, when people hold rudrabhisheka (a special puja during which milk is
offered to the Shivalingam)," the official told Deccan Herald from
Varanasi on Wednesday.
"Care will be taken to make sure that no impurities get mixed with the
milk," the official said. "It will be stored in hygienic
conditions so that the needy people can get clean and pure milk," he
added.
The Kashi Vishwanath temple, which stands on the western bank of the
Ganges, is the centre of faith for millions of Hindus, who throng it from
across the world. The Jyotirlinga of Shiva, Vishweshwara or Vishwanatha,
enshrined in the Kashi Vishwanath temple, is considered as one of the
holiest temples in the country.
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Posted on 2013/12/6 16:52:47 ( 408 reads )
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You may develop a thousand virtues and be reckoned as the greatest in the
land. But the lotus of your heart will not blossom until you receive the
grace of the Guru, the grace of God!
-- Dada Sadhu Vaswani
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Posted on 2013/12/5 16:20:11 ( 432 reads )
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ALLAHABAD, INDIA, December 3, 2013 (Indian Express): A red sandalwood
rosary, which is said to have been given to Sant Kabir in the 15th century
by his guru, has gone missing from the sanctum of Kabir Ashram in the
Chetganj area of Varanasi. A monk and two of his accomplices, said to be
hailing from Thailand and regular visitors to the ashram, are allegedly
involved in the theft. They are said to have replaced the original rosary
with the commonly found Rudraksha rosary before they left the ashram. The
theft occurred Saturday but came to light Sunday morning.
The monk requested five minutes meditation in the sanctum. When the door
was opened, the two others accompanying him began distributing money to
some of the priests and a manager present there. Nobody suspected anything
till Sunday morning. When the sanctum was opened, the rosary was found to
have been replaced by a Rudraksha rosary," said Mahant Vivekdas.
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Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations to Sadguru Sri Sivaya Subramuniyaswami ji,
Satguru Bodhianatha Velayanswami ji, Hinduism
Today dot com for the collection)
(The Blog is reverently for all the seekers of truth,
lovers of wisdom and to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the
spiritual path and also this is purely a non-commercial blog)
"News from Hindu Press International 70" disseminates global insights rooted in Hindu perspectives. Is Games Bad It exemplifies the intersection of media and spirituality, fostering a broader understanding of the world.
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