Source NORWAY, August 9, 2013 (The Foreigner): As an alternative religion, Hinduism was first brought to Norway as early as 1914 by a guru, Swami Sri Ananda Acharya (1881-1945). He settled in Alvdal in Osterdalen in Hedmark County and lived there until his death in 1945. There’s a bust of him in the Alvdal Community Centre. There still are Hindus…
Source Before I came on this earth, I was the same. As a little girl, I was the same. I grew into womanhood, but still I was the same. And, even now, I am the same. Though the dance of creation will ever change around me in the hall of eternity, I shall be the same.— Sri Anandamayi Ma, (1896-1982),…
Source RUSSIA, August 9, 2013 (Indrus): Yoga was enjoyed by quite a large number of people in Imperial Russia, and this laid the roots for its absorption into Soviet culture. From the end of the 19th Century and right up until the 1920s, when the USSR was formed, Indian philosophy and yoga were popular amongst the artistic and intellectual communities.…
Source In Sanatana Dharma, there is no single life, no single judgment, or eternal punishment. There is more than one life and, of course, there is no single judgment. In fact, there is no judgment at all as such, for the idea is to help and not to judge and condemn. The inner dynamics of incarnation is not reward or…
Source VIRGINIA, U.S., August 5, 2013 (Roanoke): Children danced through the streets of Salem on Sunday morning as the Hindu community celebrated the installation of a new mandir, or Hindu temple. It will be the second such temple in the Roanoke Valley, but the first of the BAPS denomination, in which devotees follow the teachings of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. Religious leaders…
newindianexpress.com/nation/Uttarakhand-government-plans-to-record-Kedarnath-pilgrims-fingerprints/2013/08/08/article1723599.ece?service=print INDIA, August 8, 2013 (New Indian Express): In the wake of the recent natural disaster [in which thousands died], the Uttarakhand Government has decided to record the fingerprints of pilgrims to the Char Dham (pilgrimage places) in the state. Talking to Express on the sidelines of Tourism Fest meeting, State’s Additional Secretary (Tourism) Sachin Kurve said the state government…
Source UNITED KINGDOM, August 5, 2013 (The Bolton News): A Hindu temple in Bolton is putting the finishing touches to a US$3.8 million redevelopment ahead of its grand reopening later this month. Deane Road’s Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Temple has expanded its main hall and prayer room, as well as adding a car park, store rooms and activity facilities. Work began…
Source The sun can give heat and light to the whole world, but he cannot do so when the clouds shut out his rays. When egotism veils the heart, God cannot shine upon you.— Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886), guru of Swami Vivekananda
Source NEW DEHLI , INDIA, July 24, 2013(Afaqs): A McD outlet in Vaishno Devi, a veg-only KFC outlet in Gujarat, a Snickers bar for vegetarians. International brands will do just about anything to find their way into Indian hearts. Restaurateurs often say “Patrons don’t eat what you serve. You serve them what they want to eat.” This whole “tweak or…
Source The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him–that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.— Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)