News from Hindu Press International
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Posted on 2013/12/5 16:20:05 ( 456 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 2013/12/19 18:46:11 ( 107 reads )
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CAMBODIA, December 5, 2013 (Global Times): More than 300 national and
international archeologists and cultural experts gathered here on Thursday
to exchange views and design a new-decade action plan on the protection and
preservation of the Angkor Wat Temple, a World Heritage site.
Among the foreign guests at the Third Inter-Governmental Conference on the
Angkor are French Minister of Culture and Communications Aurelie
Filippetti, Japanese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Yasumasa Nagamine,
and Kishore Rao, director of UNESCO's World Heritage Center.
"The conference is the venue for cultural experts, archeologists, and
officials from more than 30 countries to meet and exchange views on how
advanced technology could be applied for the cultural preservation of
Angkor," said a statement.
The Angkor, built between the 9th and 12th century and inscribed on the
World Heritage List in 1992, was removed from the "in danger"
status of the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2004. The kingdom's largest
cultural site attracted two million foreign visitors last year, and some
1.57 million in the first nine months of this year, according to the
Ministry of Tourism.
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Posted on 2013/12/19 18:46:04 ( 115 reads )
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TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS, November 3, 2013 (By Lawrence Ylenia, La
Opinion): The Adeje City Council has approved the transfer of a plot of
government property measuring 7,400 square meters to the Hindu Cultural
Center to build a new temple and leisure facilities. The local socialist
government decision has triggered criticism from the political opposition
which does not look favorably on giving away public land for free. The
spokesman for the Partido Popular, Andres Montiel, stresses that they are
not against the Hindu community, "but against transferring municipal
parcels free of charge." He claims that the land on which the Cultural
Center facility will be built is worth more than four million dollars, and
is located in a tourist area. His party is ready to support the deal only
if the city receives some kind of monetary compensation from the Hindu
organization or if they build something that will benefit the entire
community, because "we do not view the intended project as required
civic infrastructure."
In response Carlos Mirpuri points out that members of his organization
participate in the initiatives carried out in town. He stressed that the
important thing is that the future construction will help the local economy
and "give a place for our children to meet and make sure they don't
lose their culture." "Adeje is multicultural and since land has
been given to other entities, why not us, who've been waiting for a parcel
for more than 10 years?" he asks.
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Posted on 2013/12/19 18:45:58 ( 108 reads )
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WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, December 12, 2013 (Times Of India): The population
of Indian ethnic group in New Zealand has risen by 48 percent to 155,000,
latest census statistics show. The Chinese population rose by 16 percent to
171,000 while the number of Filipinos more than doubled to 40,000, reports
Xinhua. New Zealand authorities said the country has more ethnic groups than
there are countries in the world, with the Chinese and Indians joining the
five largest groups in this year's census results. The five largest ethnic
groups were New Zealand European, Maori, Chinese, Samoan and Indian. New
Zealand's resident population grew 5 percent to 4.24 million between 2006
and 2013.
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Posted on 2013/12/19 18:45:51 ( 100 reads )
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The sages, being filled with universal love for all beings, did not want to
keep their enlightenment to themselves. They declared to all: "O
mortals, striving and struggling upon this Earth plane, weeping, wailing,
buffeted by the vicissitudes of life: we have come upon a great discovery.
There is something beyond these appearances, these vanishing names and
forms that go to make up this universe. There is something beyond, which is
the very source and support of all these objects of the phenomenal world.
Why do you search in vain for happiness outside? Come, come, happiness
resides within."
-- Swami Chidananda (1916-2008), president of Divine Life Society
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Posted on 2013/12/15 18:37:14 ( 0 reads )
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CHENNAI, INDIA, December 15, 2013 (Vedic Granth): The late scholar M.R.
Jambunathan's full translations of the four Vedas are available now for
free at "source" above.
The following article on the pundit appeared in April, 2012, in The Hindu
newspaper (http://www.thehindu.com/features/frid ...
ulture/article3273061.ece):
M. R. Jambunathan (1896-1974) was born in a learned family of Vedic
scholars of Manakkal, Tiruchirapalli District, Tamil Nadu. Jambunathan was
proficient in Tamil, Sanskrit, and English. He also studied the Vedas in
depth. In his high school days, he went around the villages and towns of
Tamil Nadu to collect ancient scriptures. He was also interested in
numismatics and collected ancient Indian coins.
Early in life, Jambunathan made it his mission to translate the four Veda
Samhitas -- Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas -- into Tamil, so that all
literate Tamils could have access to the Vedas and learn for themselves the
eternal values and the spiritual thoughts enshrined in them. At various
fora, he enthused scholars to translate the Vedas into the language of the
region from which they hailed, so that all Indians could have access to the
ancient scriptures.
Translations of the Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas were published in Jambunathan's
lifetime. After almost three decades of painstaking labour, he completed
the translation of the Rig Veda, the larger compendium of the Veda
Samhitas. The Rig Veda translation Vol.1 was posthumously released by Raja
Ramanna, who was then the director of BARC, in 1978, and Vol.II by I. G.
Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, in 1980.
(end of The Hindu article)
Dr. S. Sabharathnam, a Tamil scholar and expert in both Agamas and Vedas
responded as follows when asked by HPI about M.R. Jambunathan:
"Thank you very much for bringing to my memory one of the rarest,
noblest and the most refined souls of India, Sri Jambunathan. His
translation of all the four Vedas has been rendered in a flawless and
standard Tamil. I do not think that such a high quality translation of the
Vedas could be available in other languages of India! His translation is
far better than the English translation by Griffith and Wilson. He lived a
very calm, serene and dedicated life, devoting his whole time for the
promotion of Vedic culture. With his meager monthly income at that time, he
was helping the poor students for their good education, ignoring their
caste-distinctions."
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Posted on 2013/12/15 18:37:07 ( 433 reads )
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, December 11, 2013 (Today): Chicago's O'Hare
International, one of the country's busiest and most stressful airports,
took a decidedly Zen turn today with the opening of a yoga room in Terminal
3, adjacent to the airport's indoor urban garden. "The yoga room
provides a space for yoga practice as well as a place to relax or
meditate," said Rosemarie Andolini, Chicago Department of Aviation
commissioner. "This is yet another amenity to help make the travel
experience at O'Hare 'best-in-class.'"
O'Hare's yoga room has a sustainable bamboo wood floor, floor-to-ceiling
mirrors along one wall, exercise mats and an area to store personal articles
and garments. A wall-mounted video monitor plays soothing sounds and
displays yoga exercise techniques and images of nature. And to provide
privacy and let in natural light, there are frosted windows along one side
of the room.
"The importance of exercise and the opportunity in clearing the mind
and body during long travel days cannot be overstated as it relates to
one's health," said Brad Jersey, CEO and founder of nLIVEn Health, a
company that brings sponsored, interactive health care campaigns into airports.
"We know from our studies that 75 percent of frequent fliers
participate in some workout regimen, so this is a perfect complement at
ORD."
The yoga room at Chicago's O'Hare airport continues a trend begun by San
Francisco International Airport in January 2012, when it opened the world's
first yoga room at an airport. Located in the refurbished Terminal 2. Yoga
rooms can also be found at airports in Dallas, San Francisco and
Burlington, Vt.
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Posted on 2013/12/15 18:37:01 ( 314 reads )
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Devotion must not be like the flood of the rainy season in which all get
washed away. Devotion should be like the river that retains water even in
the hottest season.
-- Saint Kabir (1440-1518)
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Posted on 2013/12/14 16:36:08 ( 429 reads )
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UNITED STATES, December 12, 2013 (New York Times): An ancient statue of a
Hindu warrior, pulled from auction two years ago because of assertions that
it had been looted from a temple deep in the jungles of Cambodia, will be
returned to that country under an agreement signed on Thursday by
Sotheby's, its client and federal officials.
The accord ends a long bare-knuckled court battle over the Khmer treasure,
a 10th-century statue valued at more than $2 million. The Belgian woman who
had consigned it for sale in 2011 will receive no compensation for the
statue from Cambodia, and Sotheby's has expressed a willingness to pick up
the cost of shipping the 500-pound sandstone antiquity to that country
within the next 90 days.
At the same time, lawyers from the United States Attorney's Office in
Manhattan who had been pursuing the statue on Cambodia's behalf agreed to
withdraw allegations that the auction house and the consignor knew of the
statue's disputed provenance before importing it for sale.
The case has placed a renewed focus on Cambodian sculptures from the Koh
Ker region, a once-thriving Khmer metropolis, in American museum
collections. Earlier this year the Metropolitan Museum of Art returned two
statues that had been prominently displayed in its Southeast Asia gallery
after federal investigators showed the museum evidence that the statues,
known as the Kneeling Attendants, had probably been illicitly removed from
the same temple setting as the statue in the Sotheby's dispute, known as
the Duryodhana.
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Posted on 2013/12/14 16:36:02 ( 490 reads )
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PORTO, PORTUGAL, November 26, 2013 (Local.PT): Under the "Porto's
Kids" project - an initiative of the Municipality of Porto - free yoga
lessons during school hours have begun for about 750 children, in 30
classes in Kindergarten and 1st Grade of public schools in the city of
Porto. The classes are taught by instructors from the Associacao Ashrama
Porto Yoga Center in Porto.
All lessons are free for the children and are given to the whole class
during school hours with the presence of the educator/teacher who will give
continuity to what is learned during the week, training in self control and
concentration. In this project only senior yoga teachers with high
qualifications are allowed to teach. All the teachers are graduates of the
Portuguese Yoga Confederation program and have had special training in Yoga
for Kids.
This is the 7th year that the yoga ashram has collaborated with the City of
Porto on this project. From past years it has been seen that there has been
a very good acceptance of the program by children and their families, the
teachers, and the individual schools.
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Posted on 2013/12/14 16:35:54 ( 309 reads )
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The practice of yoga is not for ourselves alone, but for the Divine; its
aim is to work out the will of the Divine in the world, to effect a
spiritual transformation and to bring down a divine nature into the life of
humanity. It is not personal ananda, but the bringing down of the divine
ananda, the Satya Yuga, upon the Earth.
-- Sri Aurobindo, (1872-1950), Indian philosopher and reformer
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Posted on 2013/12/13 18:18:09 ( 376 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 ( 359 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 ( 355 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 ( 344 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 ( 379 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 ( 487 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 ( 435 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 ( 503 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 ( 515 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 ( 365 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 ( 524 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 ( 396 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 ( 597 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 ( 599 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 ( 507 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 2013/12/21 17:29:44 ( 503 reads )
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Religious
News Service
LEWISTON, MAINE, December 21, 2013 (by G. Jeffrey Macdonald, RNS): [HPI
Note: The Christian Seventh-Day Adventists advocate a vegetarian diet.]
On a main drag dotted with fast food joints, a new Christian church-run
restaurant is breaking the mold: It offers vegan fare as a healthy
alternative in a low-income neighborhood. But for Seventh-day Adventists,
who opened The Ark in a former Pizza Hut earlier this year, the project is
no first. Adventists established meatless restaurants as early as the late
19th century in a bid to encourage healthy living.
Now, after decades of lackluster interest, the tradition is being revived.
Eager to rekindle urban ministries, Adventists are feeding growing numbers
of city dwellers hungry for meals that are good for both the body and the
planet. "There's greater interest in vegetarian eating and healthful
living now than ever," said David Trim, director of archives,
statistics and research for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. "It's an
idea whose time has come."
Adventists have opened new vegetarian restaurants this year in New York
City, Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Tampere (Finland),
according to Trim's records. Others have sprung up in recent years in
cities as varied as San Francisco and Chattanooga, Tenn. More are in the
works in countries from England to Brunei, a Muslim nation where Christian
evangelism is banned but operating a restaurant is permitted.
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Posted on 2013/12/21 17:29:38 ( 329 reads )
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Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out
how easy it is to get along.
-- Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), Founder of Self-Realization
Fellowship
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Posted on 2013/12/20 17:32:12 ( 491 reads )
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KARACHI, PAKISTAN, December 19, 2013 (Outlook India): A large number of
Pakistani Hindus today joined a protest outside the Press Club here over
the demolition of an 80-year-old temple in the city's Soldier Bazar area.
The Krishna or Rama Peer Mandir at Dholi Khata in Soldier Bazar has become
a bone of contention between the minority Hindu community and a powerful
builder, who bought the land on which the temple was built from the
military estate office through a government auction.
"Religious articles, including pictures and statuettes of our gods,
are still lying in the rubble of the demolished temple and families living
in the compound on which the temple was built still remain homeless,"
Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, patron of the Pakistan Hindu Council, told PTI.
"The departments responsible for this gross injustice are the military
estate office and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), who auctioned
off the land to a powerful builder without caring about our
sentiments," said Vankwani.
An ETPB official, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed the temple
was illegally built on military land that had been auctioned. The temple
was legally razed on the orders of a court, he said. But Vankwani insisted
that maps with the ETPB showed the temple was present on the plot even
before Partition.
The 1998 census - the last official population count - placed Pakistan's
Hindu population at 2.5 million.
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Posted on 2013/12/20 17:32:06 ( 399 reads )
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JAMMU, INDIA, December 14, 2013 (Business Standard): As a result of the
directions issued by Chairman of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board N. N.
Vohra, Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine Board (SMVDB) has planted over 550,000
saplings, including forest, horticulture, floriculture, medicinal and
ornamental species of plants during the last 4 years, a spokesman of SMVD
said.
The initiative is aimed at conserving the environment and ecology and
greening the Trikuta Hills and the tracks leading to the shrine.
In addition, 150,000 saplings of different species of plants were planted
during the monsoon plantation season of 2013, spokesman said, adding that
as many as 150,000 plants are being planted during the present winter
plantation season, which will raise the number of plants put in the ground
to 700,000.
CEO of SMVD Mandeep Bhandari said to generate in-house production of
indigenous species of plants compatible to the local climatic conditions in
the Trikuta Hills area, a multi-purpose nursery with a capacity to produce
more than 200,000 seedlings per year is being set up at Kunkuniyallan
village, near Panthal by the Board.
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Posted on 2013/12/20 17:32:00 ( 358 reads )
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For seven lives in seven bodies the grateful will remember friends who
relieved their anguish and affliction.
Saint Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural, verse 107
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Posted on 2013/12/19 18:46:11 ( 442 reads )
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CAMBODIA, December 5, 2013 (Global Times): More than 300 national and
international archeologists and cultural experts gathered here on Thursday
to exchange views and design a new-decade action plan on the protection and
preservation of the Angkor Wat Temple, a World Heritage site.
Among the foreign guests at the Third Inter-Governmental Conference on the
Angkor are French Minister of Culture and Communications Aurelie
Filippetti, Japanese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Yasumasa Nagamine,
and Kishore Rao, director of UNESCO's World Heritage Center.
"The conference is the venue for cultural experts, archeologists, and
officials from more than 30 countries to meet and exchange views on how
advanced technology could be applied for the cultural preservation of
Angkor," said a statement.
The Angkor, built between the 9th and 12th century and inscribed on the
World Heritage List in 1992, was removed from the "in danger"
status of the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2004. The kingdom's largest
cultural site attracted two million foreign visitors last year, and some
1.57 million in the first nine months of this year, according to the
Ministry of Tourism.
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Posted on 2013/12/19 18:46:04 ( 456 reads )
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TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS, November 3, 2013 (By Lawrence Ylenia, La
Opinion): The Adeje City Council has approved the transfer of a plot of
government property measuring 7,400 square meters to the Hindu Cultural
Center to build a new temple and leisure facilities. The local socialist
government decision has triggered criticism from the political opposition
which does not look favorably on giving away public land for free. The
spokesman for the Partido Popular, Andres Montiel, stresses that they are
not against the Hindu community, "but against transferring municipal
parcels free of charge." He claims that the land on which the Cultural
Center facility will be built is worth more than four million dollars, and
is located in a tourist area. His party is ready to support the deal only
if the city receives some kind of monetary compensation from the Hindu
organization or if they build something that will benefit the entire
community, because "we do not view the intended project as required
civic infrastructure."
In response Carlos Mirpuri points out that members of his organization
participate in the initiatives carried out in town. He stressed that the
important thing is that the future construction will help the local economy
and "give a place for our children to meet and make sure they don't
lose their culture." "Adeje is multicultural and since land has
been given to other entities, why not us, who've been waiting for a parcel
for more than 10 years?" he asks.
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Posted on 2013/12/19 18:45:58 ( 458 reads )
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WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, December 12, 2013 (Times Of India): The population
of Indian ethnic group in New Zealand has risen by 48 percent to 155,000,
latest census statistics show. The Chinese population rose by 16 percent to
171,000 while the number of Filipinos more than doubled to 40,000, reports
Xinhua. New Zealand authorities said the country has more ethnic groups
than there are countries in the world, with the Chinese and Indians joining
the five largest groups in this year's census results. The five largest
ethnic groups were New Zealand European, Maori, Chinese, Samoan and Indian.
New Zealand's resident population grew 5 percent to 4.24 million between
2006 and 2013.
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Posted on 2013/12/19 18:45:51 ( 349 reads )
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The sages, being filled with universal love for all beings, did not want to
keep their enlightenment to themselves. They declared to all: "O
mortals, striving and struggling upon this Earth plane, weeping, wailing,
buffeted by the vicissitudes of life: we have come upon a great discovery.
There is something beyond these appearances, these vanishing names and
forms that go to make up this universe. There is something beyond, which is
the very source and support of all these objects of the phenomenal world.
Why do you search in vain for happiness outside? Come, come, happiness
resides within."
-- Swami Chidananda (1916-2008), president of Divine Life Society
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Posted on 2013/12/15 18:37:14 ( 0 reads )
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CHENNAI, INDIA, December 15, 2013 (Vedic Granth): The late scholar M.R.
Jambunathan's full translations of the four Vedas are available now for
free at "source" above.
The following article on the pundit appeared in April, 2012, in The Hindu
newspaper (http://www.thehindu.com/features/frid ...
ulture/article3273061.ece):
M. R. Jambunathan (1896-1974) was born in a learned family of Vedic
scholars of Manakkal, Tiruchirapalli District, Tamil Nadu. Jambunathan was
proficient in Tamil, Sanskrit, and English. He also studied the Vedas in
depth. In his high school days, he went around the villages and towns of
Tamil Nadu to collect ancient scriptures. He was also interested in
numismatics and collected ancient Indian coins.
Early in life, Jambunathan made it his mission to translate the four Veda
Samhitas -- Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas -- into Tamil, so that all
literate Tamils could have access to the Vedas and learn for themselves the
eternal values and the spiritual thoughts enshrined in them. At various
fora, he enthused scholars to translate the Vedas into the language of the
region from which they hailed, so that all Indians could have access to the
ancient scriptures.
Translations of the Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas were published in
Jambunathan's lifetime. After almost three decades of painstaking labour,
he completed the translation of the Rig Veda, the larger compendium of the
Veda Samhitas. The Rig Veda translation Vol.1 was posthumously released by
Raja Ramanna, who was then the director of BARC, in 1978, and Vol.II by I.
G. Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, in 1980.
(end of The Hindu article)
Dr. S. Sabharathnam, a Tamil scholar and expert in both Agamas and Vedas
responded as follows when asked by HPI about M.R. Jambunathan:
"Thank you very much for bringing to my memory one of the rarest,
noblest and the most refined souls of India, Sri Jambunathan. His
translation of all the four Vedas has been rendered in a flawless and
standard Tamil. I do not think that such a high quality translation of the
Vedas could be available in other languages of India! His translation is
far better than the English translation by Griffith and Wilson. He lived a
very calm, serene and dedicated life, devoting his whole time for the promotion
of Vedic culture. With his meager monthly income at that time, he was
helping the poor students for their good education, ignoring their
caste-distinctions."
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Posted on 2013/12/15 18:37:07 ( 624 reads )
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, December 11, 2013 (Today): Chicago's O'Hare
International, one of the country's busiest and most stressful airports,
took a decidedly Zen turn today with the opening of a yoga room in Terminal
3, adjacent to the airport's indoor urban garden. "The yoga room
provides a space for yoga practice as well as a place to relax or
meditate," said Rosemarie Andolini, Chicago Department of Aviation
commissioner. "This is yet another amenity to help make the travel
experience at O'Hare 'best-in-class.'"
O'Hare's yoga room has a sustainable bamboo wood floor, floor-to-ceiling
mirrors along one wall, exercise mats and an area to store personal articles
and garments. A wall-mounted video monitor plays soothing sounds and
displays yoga exercise techniques and images of nature. And to provide
privacy and let in natural light, there are frosted windows along one side
of the room.
"The importance of exercise and the opportunity in clearing the mind
and body during long travel days cannot be overstated as it relates to
one's health," said Brad Jersey, CEO and founder of nLIVEn Health, a
company that brings sponsored, interactive health care campaigns into
airports. "We know from our studies that 75 percent of frequent fliers
participate in some workout regimen, so this is a perfect complement at
ORD."
The yoga room at Chicago's O'Hare airport continues a trend begun by San
Francisco International Airport in January 2012, when it opened the world's
first yoga room at an airport. Located in the refurbished Terminal 2. Yoga
rooms can also be found at airports in Dallas, San Francisco and
Burlington, Vt.
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Posted on 2013/12/15 18:37:01 ( 476 reads )
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Devotion must not be like the flood of the rainy season in which all get
washed away. Devotion should be like the river that retains water even in
the hottest season.
-- Saint Kabir (1440-1518)
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Posted on 2013/12/14 16:36:08 ( 571 reads )
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UNITED STATES, December 12, 2013 (New York Times): An ancient statue of a
Hindu warrior, pulled from auction two years ago because of assertions that
it had been looted from a temple deep in the jungles of Cambodia, will be
returned to that country under an agreement signed on Thursday by
Sotheby's, its client and federal officials.
The accord ends a long bare-knuckled court battle over the Khmer treasure,
a 10th-century statue valued at more than $2 million. The Belgian woman who
had consigned it for sale in 2011 will receive no compensation for the
statue from Cambodia, and Sotheby's has expressed a willingness to pick up
the cost of shipping the 500-pound sandstone antiquity to that country
within the next 90 days.
At the same time, lawyers from the United States Attorney's Office in
Manhattan who had been pursuing the statue on Cambodia's behalf agreed to
withdraw allegations that the auction house and the consignor knew of the
statue's disputed provenance before importing it for sale.
The case has placed a renewed focus on Cambodian sculptures from the Koh
Ker region, a once-thriving Khmer metropolis, in American museum
collections. Earlier this year the Metropolitan Museum of Art returned two
statues that had been prominently displayed in its Southeast Asia gallery
after federal investigators showed the museum evidence that the statues,
known as the Kneeling Attendants, had probably been illicitly removed from
the same temple setting as the statue in the Sotheby's dispute, known as
the Duryodhana.
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Posted on 2013/12/14 16:36:02 ( 647 reads )
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PORTO, PORTUGAL, November 26, 2013 (Local.PT): Under the "Porto's
Kids" project - an initiative of the Municipality of Porto - free yoga
lessons during school hours have begun for about 750 children, in 30
classes in Kindergarten and 1st Grade of public schools in the city of
Porto. The classes are taught by instructors from the Associacao Ashrama
Porto Yoga Center in Porto.
All lessons are free for the children and are given to the whole class
during school hours with the presence of the educator/teacher who will give
continuity to what is learned during the week, training in self control and
concentration. In this project only senior yoga teachers with high
qualifications are allowed to teach. All the teachers are graduates of the
Portuguese Yoga Confederation program and have had special training in Yoga
for Kids.
This is the 7th year that the yoga ashram has collaborated with the City of
Porto on this project. From past years it has been seen that there has been
a very good acceptance of the program by children and their families, the
teachers, and the individual schools.
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Posted on 2013/12/14 16:35:54 ( 426 reads )
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The practice of yoga is not for ourselves alone, but for the Divine; its
aim is to work out the will of the Divine in the world, to effect a
spiritual transformation and to bring down a divine nature into the life of
humanity. It is not personal ananda, but the bringing down of the divine
ananda, the Satya Yuga, upon the Earth.
-- Sri Aurobindo, (1872-1950), Indian philosopher and reformer
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Posted on 2013/12/30 18:51:32 ( 101 reads )
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NADI, FIJI, December 21, 2013 (Fiji Times): Hindu priests have been
directed by visiting international professors specializing in Hinduism to
wear a dhoti while performing puja. They have also been asked to refrain
from drinking yaqona (kava) and smoking. This was revealed during a
workshop for Western Sanatan priests at Votualevu in Nadi this week. The
meeting was organized by the charitable organisation, Yaadein Vision
Australia.
Yaadein Vision representative Bobby Mishra said the workshop was long
overdue because they had received feedback from people that priests in
different regions were conducting prayers differently. "For this
reason, we brought in these overseas experts and have now introduced a book
that will allow priests to conduct prayers in a similar fashion, whether
they are from Lautoka or Suva," he said.
The workshop was held for five days and was open to the public as well.
About 100 priests participated in the workshop where they were taught the
correct pronunciations of mantras and their meanings. The two professionals
visiting from India were Dr. Meenakshi and Dr. Acharya Sharma. Both founded
the Sydney Sanskrit School and Five Dimension Vedic Centre of Sydney
respectively.
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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)
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