Source: http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=53131

UDUPI, INDIA, November 3, 2008: Sri Vishweshateerta Swamiji of Pejawar Math has written an open letter to the dalits, requesting that they not convert into other religions and promising to initiate steps to ensure that they get equal status in Hinduism. While affirming an individual’s right to select the religion of his or her choice, he explained that a true conversion is based on acceptance of the vision and rituals of the new religion.

“Hundreds of Hindu maths and temples are ready to abandon their caste bias,” he stated, promising that if any injustices are committed, the dalits can inform him and he or his representatives will come to set right the wrongs. “If I am unable to provide justice to the dalits, I will take their side and fight for their rights. Myself and heads of various other maths are with you,” he stated.

Source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/tacoma/24hour/religion/story/535329.html

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, November 16, 2008: A new survey in the United States finds that 55 percent of young people ages 12 to 25 say they are more spiritual now than two years ago. But nearly one-third of them said they don’t trust organized religion.

The survey, believed to be the first of its kind in the world, was conducted by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute. The first question was, “What does it mean to be spiritual?” There were nine choices, running from “believing in God” to “being true to one’s inner self.”

The good news for faith communities is that 93 percent of the young people surveyed believe there is a spiritual aspect to life. But the disconnect between spirituality and religion was clear. If the youth don’t feel spiritual in church, where do they? “Spending time in nature” topped the list of responses. “Listening to or playing music” was No. 2, and “helping other people or the community” was third. On the rise in the youth’s list are yoga and meditation, say the researchers. “Attending religious services” was ninth.

Source: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Kerala-temple-priest-seeks-Muslim-elder–s-blessings/383789/

MALAPPURAM, KERALA, November 16, 2008: In an enduring example of Hindu tolerance and religious harmony, a Bhagavati temple near Malappuram still follows the tradition of its new priest seeking the blessings of a local elder — who now happens to be a Muslim.

According to the elder, Bappu Hajee of the Pazhayakath family, the honor of anointing the priest of the temple was conferred on his family by the ruler of Vettathnadu some eight centuries ago. His family converted to Islam at some point since then, but that never created contention among his neighbors. No one in the community has ever resented it, said the locals.

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0f515000-ac6e-11dd-bf71-000077b07658.html

VARANASI, INDIA, November 13, 2008: Stressed out by financial losses in the markets? Try a trip to the ancient holy city of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges. The city is becoming a center for wellness and recovery, with clinics on ayurveda and natural healing.

As a local guide says: “If you come to Varanasi, you will understand that it all ends here.” And, for many of India’s Hindu faithful, it does. Varanasi has long drawn those nearing the end of their lives. Many say that those who die and are cremated here can be released from the cycle of birth, death, and re-birth.

Varanasi has to it a spiritual balm and an inner perspective that Indian tourism officials believe their country can uniquely offer. Ambika Soni, the national tourism and culture minister, is keen to promote India as a “wellness destination.” She says, “Our new theme will be India as a healing place. These are India’s strengths — yoga, ayurvedic medicine and natural homeopathy, methods for cure that we’ve given to the world.”

Source: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2008/11/18.shtml

Dharma is the cause of happiness. If today we do not have the mental peace and happiness of our ancestors, it is due to our gross neglect of dharma. When the practice of dharma declined, suffering began.
   Jagadguru Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal (1912-1954), 34th pontiff of the Sarada Peetham

Source: http://opa.yale.edu/president/message.aspx?id=83

NEW DELHI, INDIA, November 17,2008: The renowned Yale University launched an India initiative with a corpus of $ 75 million to increase its academic ties with the country.

“The initiative will create new faculty positions on India; specific courses and new curricula across arts, culture, religion and science,” Yale University President Richard C Levin said. Yale plans to triple the number of Indian professors to about 30.

A summary from Yale’s President follows:

“As many of you already know, Yale University’s historical connections to India are among the oldest of any Western university, dating back more than three centuries. It was at Yale in the late 1840s that Sanskrit was first taught in the Western hemisphere and that we have been continuously teaching Indian languages ever since. Today, a student at Yale can study not only Sanskrit, but also Hindi and Tamil.

“The rise of India since the 1990s into a nation of global economic and geo-political consequence compels Yale to provide a deep and rich curriculum covering all aspects of Indian civilization - its languages and literatures, religions, and history, as well as its politics, economics, and society. We also need to engage with the problems that confront contemporary India: equitable and sustainable economic development and public health.

“Today, Yale commits itself to the goal that India will have a permanent and prominent place in the teaching, scholarship, and the life of the institution, strengthening the relationship between the world’s two largest democracies.”

Source: http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/

GUJARAT, INDIA, November 16, 2008: The sindhur, or pottu by which it is known in Southern India, a unique marking on the foreheads of Indians, dates back to the third millennium BCE. Even during the early days of civilization people used to wear the sindhur or tilak on their foreheads, excavations along the now defunct Saraswati river have proved. “The Indian woman had adorned her forehead with sindhur as a symbol of marriage. This perhaps also indicated the existence of a structural family life in an orderly society,” Prof B.B. Lal, former director general, Archaeological Survey of India told Deccan Chronicle.

“We came across the sindhur in terracotta figurines from the sites along the states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Carbon dating confirmed the fact that these terracotta figurines date back to the third millennium BC,” said Prof Lal. “Similarly the practice of greeting one another with namaste and the criss-cross pattern of furrows on farm lands, seen even today in Haryana and Rajasthan, date back to the Saraswati era,” he said.

The Harappan and Mohenjo Daro civilizations were only extensions of the Saraswati or Vedic Civilization, according to Prof Lal. “Since the excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo Daro happened simultaneously in 1920, they are known as Harappan civilizations. But the Saraswati civilization is much older than that of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro,” said Prof Lal.

Source: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/India%27s_flag_landed_on_Moon

INDIA, November 15, 2008: At 8:34 p.m. Indian time Friday night, India became the fourth country to land its flag on the Moon. The unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 ejected its Moon Impact Probe, which hurtled across the surface of the Moon at 1.5 kilometers per second (3,000 miles per hour), and successfully crash landed near the Moon’s south pole.

Chandrayaan-1 (meaning “moon craft” in Sanskrit) reached its target lunar orbit on Wednesday. The orbiter will remain in a circular orbit 102 kilometres above the Moon’s surface for two years. Its instruments will be gradually commissioned over the next few days. With this landing, India became both the fourth country to place a flag on the Moon and the fifth group to send a spacecraft to the Moon.

Source: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2008/11/17.shtml

In the midst of great joy do not promise anyone anything. In the midst of great anger do not answer anyone’s letter.
   Chinese Proverb

Source: Religion News

WASHINGTON, DC, USA, Novemeber 12, 2008: When a city permits a Ten Commandments monument in a public park, must it then permit other monuments with a different point of view? Or does it have the right to pick and choose? This case, involving lawyers for Pleasant Grove City, Utah, and a little-known religious group called Summum, came before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

The city had rejected Summum’s attempt to erect a monument to the group’s “Seven Aphorisms” alongside an already accepted Ten Commandments marker. The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has already ruled in Summum’s favor, saying the rejection constituted viewpoint discrimination. If the Supreme Court upholds the 10th Circuit decision, Summum plans to place a stone monument similar to the Ten Commandments marker. Summum is arguing its case based on free-speech rights.

Source: Source: HPI

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, November 5, 2008: Acharya Karmananda, spiritual leader of the Divine Life Society (DLS) in Trinidad and Tobago, has passed away at the age of 62.

One of many spiritual leaders honoring the acharya’s memory before hundreds of devotees Wednesday was Dr Balkaran Shivnauth, President of the New World Spiritual Foundation, who said, “He has given 46 years of service to humanity in T&T and everywhere he went. T&T has lost yet another great spiritual soul. Each one of us has been touched by the life of one who was inherently humble, one who projected a simple life style, he spoke softly and only when necessary. He last left an indelible mark on society as a whole.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/science/earth/11maldives.html

MALDIVES ISLANDS, INDIAN OCEAN, November 10, 2008: The president-elect of the Maldives, a nation of 1,200 low islands in the Indian Ocean, is planning to establish an investment fund with some of its earnings from tourism so it can buy a haven for its citizens should global warming raise sea levels at a dangerous pace, according to several news reports. And Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected president, named Sri Lanka and India as possible spots for a refuge, according to the BBC. If the 350,000 Maldivians, 10,000 are recent immigrants from India.
Ibrahim Zaki, a spokesmen for the government, said, “Global warming and environmental issues are issues of major concern to the Maldivian people. We are just about three feet above sea level.”

In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations projected that sea levels worldwide could rise up to two feet by 2100 as ice sheets eroded and warming seawater expanded. But the panel and independent climate specialists said even higher levels were possible and centuries of rising seas could follow if warming persisted.

Source: http://royalnews.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/crown-princess-maxima-opens-amsterdam-india-festival/

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, November 15, 2008:  It seems like there’s India fever with royals lately. Belgium’s King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium just got back from a 10 day tour of the country. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden also spent nearly two weeks there last month.

King Albert II, in his visit, made a point of meeting and honoring religious components of the country. With his wife, Queen Paola, the sovereign started by visiting a Hindu temple, where they received a tilak and garlands of flowers. They have also visited a Sikh temple, a Muslim masjid and a Jain temple.

Another European royal celebrated Indian culture this week, this time in her own country. Crown Princess Maxima of the Netherlands launched the Amsterdam-India festival on Wednesday, a two week event in Amsterdam. Until November 30th, the Amsterdam-India Festival will hold concerts, exhibitions and seminars to celebrate India’s unique culture. The event also includes world class dancers, musicians, photography, fashion, art and architecture. To know more about the Amsterdam India Festival, go to www.indiafestival.nl

Source: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2008/11/16.shtml

Temper takes you to trouble, pride keeps you there.
   Ma Yogashakti Saraswati

http://www.indembarg.org.ar/

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, November 11, 2008: The Embassy of India in Argentina, in collaboration with the government of the city of Buenos Aires, will present the Festival of India this month at Centro Cultural Borges, Buenos Aires. The festival, a grandiose event, includes an exhibition of culture and handicrafts, with a live demonstration by Indian artisans of their work. The festival also brings to Buenos Aires dance and music performances representing different regions of India, Kathak and an ensemble of Rajasthani folk dance group.

This spectacular piece of India in Argentina brings also a fashion show, a Bollywood film festival, painting and photo exhibitions, workshops and seminars on yoga, ayurveda and meditation. The Indian Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts is the main sponsor of the event.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7728092.stm

VERMONT, UNITED STATES, November 14, 2008: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is calling on Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont to raise health insurance premiums for people who eat meat, and lower the premiums for vegetarians. In a letter sent Monday to Bill Milnes Jr., president of Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Vermont, PETA’s Executive Director Tracy Reiman urged Blue Cross to raise rates on meat eaters because, she claims, heart disease, diabetes and other leading killer diseases have been conclusively linked to the consumption of meat and other animal products. But it doesn’t appear that Blue Cross will be taking PETA’s suggestion any time soon.

“Under Vermont law, we would not be allowed to vary rates based on the dietary and nutritional habits of various members,” said Kevin Goddard, Blue Cross’s vice president of external affairs. He did, however, say that Blue Cross is always looking to have the healthiest members possible, but “we have no information one way or the other if vegetarians are more healthy.”

Source: http://www.elfaroceutamelilla.es/content/view/21370/62/

VALENCIA, SPAIN, November 14, 2008: Hindu priest and yoga teacher J. Ramchandani gave a seminar on Bhakti Yoga at the Hindu Temple of Valencia on Thursday November 6th. Ramchandani, born in Spain, is the son of a Hindu father and a Catholic mother.

The title of the conference was: “Bhakti-yoga, The Magic of Devotion.” He also presented his new book “Stories and Legends from the Hinduism’s Wisdom” and his new CD-ROM entitled “Dharma, an Introduction to Hinduism.” The next day, a homa (fire ceremony) was performed to bless participants who came from all over Spain and Portugal, United States, Russia and Chile.

Source: worldsreligionsjamia.com

NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 17, 2008: The congress on “World’s Religions After September 11 - An Asian Perspective” will meet in New Delhi from January 17-20, 2009 at the Jamia Millia Islamia University campus. The Congress is being hosted by the recently established Center for the Study of Comparative Religion and Civilizations at the university.

This Congress is a sequel to the Global Congress on World’s Religions After September 11, which met in Montreal from September 11-15, 2006 and was attended by more than 2,000 people from 84 countries. The present Congress will focus on the same theme, but primarily from an Asian perspective.

Source: www.arshabodha.org

SOMERSET, NEW JERSEY, USA: Dr. Dilip Amin will give a lecture entitled, “Interfaith Marriages and Future of Their Progeny: What Our Young Adults Should Know.”

More than one third of our young adults marry a person from outside of Indic faith traditions. Religious differences bring complexities in married life, including unintended religious conversion to the faith of their spouse. It is important to understand potential complications before entering into a serious relationship. Dr. Amin will present his research on this topic with specific real examples and a method of identifying a religious fanatic. Such knowledge is critically important when an interfaith marriage is being considered.

The lecture will be held on November 16 at 6:00 p.m. All are welcome to attend. For additional information, please visit the link above.

Source: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2008/11/15.shtml

You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.
   Anonymous