www.latimes.com LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, August 25, 2007: There is broad agreement across the social, political and religious spectrum, and most important the Supreme Court, that the Bible can be taught in public schools and that knowledge of the Bible is vital to students’ understanding of literature and art, including “Moby-Dick,” Michelangelo and “The Matrix.” But battles are raging in statehouses,…
hindustantimes.com THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, August 19, 2007: The Kerala state government is considering setting up a university to train Hindu priests and others associated with conducting rituals in temples. This has been proposed by State Temple Affairs Minister, G. Sudhaskaran, to the Travancore Devasthanam Board. “It is high time to teach priests how to conduct rituals to the satisfaction of devotees.…
www.washingtonpost.com PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, August 21, 2007: Members of a Buddhist sect bought hundreds of eels, frogs and turtles and set them free in the Passaic River, hoping they would survive in the once-polluted stream and realize their karmic potential. The act did nothing for the karma of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which said the Amitabha Buddhists did…
deccan.com LONDON, ENGLAND, August 22, 2007: Sculptures of bells, Kathak dancers and aerial dancers were innovatively brought together to create an amazing hour-long theatrical and dance spectacle at Trafalgar Square. Bells, an event in the three-week-long Trafalgar Square Festival, part of three-month India Now festival, was a successful attempt at collaborations between artiste Naresh Kapuria, Kathak dancers linked to Akademi…
sify.com KARACHI, PAKISTAN, August 21, 2007: Hindu women in Pakistan are preparing for the festival of Raksha Bandhan, shopping for colorful rakhis, sweets and gifts. On Raksha Bandhan, which falls on the full moon day in the Hindu month of Shravan, sisters tie decorative threads on their brother’s wrist as a mark of respect and love. The festival falls on…
www.rediff.com BENGALURU, INDIA, August 22, 2007: It is official. The silicon city Bangalore will no longer be called Bangalore. Instead, it will be called Bengaluru. So what impact does this name change have on the city and the cosmopolitan crowd that it houses? The native of Karnataka is happy and says that the name was always Bengaluru, but the British…
www.ddinews.gov.in KERALA, INDIA, August 24, 2007: Onam, the annual harvest festival celebrated mainly in the South Indian state of Kerala and is a moment of joy and celebration begins on Friday. It is the foremost festival among the cultural repertoire of Malayalees, and falls during the month of Chingam (August-September as per the Gregorian calendar, the first month of the…
www.nytimes.com UNITED STATES, August 23, 2007: (HPI note: What the researchers did not appear to investigate in this fascinating experiment is whether, during the induced out-of-body experience, it was possible for the person to see or hear something that he should not have been able to. The most compelling testimony in out-of-body experiences is the person in his astral body…
www.thepeninsulaqatar.com THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, August 23, 2007: (HPI note: Hinduism Today ran a related report, here, on the declining standard of elephant care in Kerala.) It is also reported that the standard of care of elephants India’s famed elephant parades must stop because they are cruel to the animals, says a Hindu group which has scrapped the practice for the coming…
www.hafsite.org WASHINGTON, D.C., August 23, 2007: On August 3, 2007, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced Senate Resolution 299, “recognizing the religious and historical significance of the festival of Diwali”. The resolution affirms the importance of the festival in the lives of millions of Hindus, Jains and Sikhs in the United States. The resolution also lauds…