Indian Sufis Work For Peace

indiatoday.digitaltoday.in NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 17, 2008: In December last year, All India Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Council, a Sufi organisation, led a peace march to Parliament, holding placards that read: “Islam says killing of one innocent is killing of humanity. Sufi Corridor can play an important role in establishing peace and unity.” Despite the overly idealistic veneer, it marks an…

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Kailash Mansarovar Yatra More Expensive

www.ddinews.gov.in NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 19, 2008: The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a traditional circumambulation of the sacred Mount Kailas, this year will be more costly. As Kumaon Mandal Viakash Nigam, the agency running the Yatra, has increased the charges from Rs 15,500 to 19,000 per pilgrim this year, its Divisional Manager G.N. Pandey said. The government of India approved the…

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Hindu Monk Becomes Priest of Udipi Temple Despite Opposition

in.reuters.com BANGALORE, INDIA, January 18, 2008: A Hindu monk who ignored a taboo against travelling abroad was anointed on Friday as the head priest of a popular temple in the pilgrim town of Udipi in Karnataka, despite opposition by conservative religious leaders. Sugunendra Teertha had travelled to the United States and Europe to promote Hinduism. This upset some orthodox Brahmins…

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Mata Amritanandamayi Gives Darshan in India

www.hindu.com COIMBATORE, INDIA, January 19, 2008: Mata Amritanandamayi Devi arrived in Coimbatore on Thursday, to attend the Brahmasthanam Temple festival organised on January 18 and 19 at Nallampalayam. According to a press release, the two-day program will include satsang, bhajans, meditation and darshan, for the benefit of Mata’s devotees. Pujas, Special pujas (Lalita Sahasranama) to mitigate the influences of Rahu…

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Increase In Oil Prices Raises Concerns and Cost of Food

www.nytimes.com KUANTAN, MALAYSIA, January 19, 2008: Rising prices for cooking oil are forcing some residents of Mumbai, India, to ration every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built to convert vegetable oil into diesel sit idle, their owners unable to afford the raw material. This is the other…

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Google’s Guru of Giving Follows His Hindu Guru

www.economist.com LONDON, UK, January 17, 2008: “What does a moral person do, given all the problems and suffering in the world? How do you focus?” Larry Brilliant illustrates how difficult this is by recalling a friend’s struggle to decide how best to allocate a few rupees among the beggars waiting to die in the Hindu sacred city of Benares, in…

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India’s New Channel Invests On Re-telling the Ramayana Epic

www.hindu-blog.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 17, 2008: NDTV Imagine Channel will be featuring a Ramayana serial based on Valmiki’s Ramayana and Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas. The new Ramayana will air starting from January 21, 2008. Announcing the launch of the show, Mr. Sameer Nair, CEO, NDTV Imagine said, “Ramayana is a tale for every generation. It is multi-layered, multi-faceted, multi-dimensional… and this…

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Dow Jones Launches New Dharma-Based Index

www.religionnews.com NEW YORK, USA, January 15, 2008: Financial news powerhouse Dow Jones & Company has launched new “dharma indexes” to track the stocks of companies that observe the values of dharma-based religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. The Dow Jones Dharma Indexes are the first to measure dharma-compliant stocks and now track more than 3,400 companies globally, including about 1,000…

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Lanka Unveils “Trail of Ramayana” Tour Package

www.hinduonnet.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 17, 2008: With an eye on its “primary source market”, Sri Lanka Tourism officials have identified 50 sites associated with the Hindu epic Ramayana to attract more pilgrim travellers from India to the island nation. “Following the Trail of Ramayana” is a touristic circuit based on research findings that link the sites to Lord Ram,…

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