www.newkerala.com NEW YORK, May 28, 2007: About 30 students sat barefoot and cross-legged as they chanted Sanskrit verses and did yogic postures in an exercise conducted by the Hindu Students Council at North Carolina State University this weekend. “It’s a concentrated dose of culture, friendship and a lot of learning together,” said Kanchan Banerjee, one of the founders of the…
www.zeenews.com MUMBAI, INDIA, May 27, 2007: Thousands of followers of Dalit icon Babasaheb Ambedkar on Sunday embraced Buddhism at a function here. The function was organized to commemorate the golden jubilee of the Buddha dhamma deeksha (conversion to Buddhism) by hundreds of thousands of Ambedkar’s followers in Nagpur in 1956. Most of those who embraced Buddhism at today’s event were…
www.zeenews.com PITHORAGARH, INDIA, May 26, 2007: Starting out from New Delhi and walking 865 kms to complete their pilgrimage, the first of 16 groups with 45 pilgrims each will commence their journey on June 1. The news release explains, “The journey passes through the beautiful but tough mountain route including an arduous trek of 70 kms from Mangati onwards. There…
www.ashlandcitytimes.com TENNESSEE, USA, May 27, 2007: (HPI note: Many Hindus temples in America have priests who are on the R-1 visa, and these inspections will include those temples.) Methodist minister and Mexican citizen Carlos Uroza finds himself in legal limbo as he ministers to a growing Hispanic congregation at First United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro. Changes in federal policies regarding…
www.trinicenter.com TRINIDAD, May 25, 2007: Indian heritage day will be observed as a national holiday on Wednesday May 30. On May 30, 1845, the Fath Al Razak docked in the Port of Spain harbor in Trinidad and Tobago with 225 adult passengers on board. The passengers were immigrants from India who had come to the British colony to work in…
HPI KAUAI, HAWAII, May 26, 2007: HPI has learned that up to a dozen temples in the United States have recently had R-1 (religious worker) visas for priests denied at the American consulates in India. This is in addition to the recent denial of visas for sthapatis (temple architects) and silpis (temple master craftsmen). These denials are coming in instances…
www.stolaf.edu NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA, USA, May 25, 2007: This fall Professor of Religion Anantanand Rambachan will chair the St. Olaf Religion Department — making him the first non-Christian in the 133-year history of the college to hold the post. Rambachan spoke recently about what his appointment means for the future of St. Olaf College as well as his passion for fostering…
www.chinmaya.org PIERCY, CALIFORNIA, May 25, 2007: Swami Ishwarananda will be conducting a “Dharma Sevak Course” at Chinmaya Mission West headquarters at Krishnalaya, Piercy, California, June 15-29, 2007. This intensive course enhances the participant’s understanding of the essence of Hinduism, as well as enables him/her to conduct classes and study groups on Vedanta. His Holiness Swami Chinmayananda, founder of Chinmaya Mission,…
www.cnn.com UNITED STATES, May 25, 2007: Smoking is forbidden in nearly three out of four U.S. households, a dramatic increase from the 43 percent of homes that prohibited smoking a decade ago, the federal government reported Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the survey in 2003, said it was the first study to offer a state-by-state…
By Rajiv Malik, Principal Correspondent, HPI NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 22, 2007. “Hinduism is a way of life and an art of living. This is what we are going to teach these 23 young children, many of whom are from Kashmir and have lost their parents due to the problem of terrorism in the state. I am sure a lot…