UNITED KINGDOM, January 30, 2013 (BBC): Ditching meat and fish in favour of a vegetarian diet can have a dramatic effect on the health of your heart, research suggests. A study of 44,500 people in England and Scotland showed vegetarians were 32% less likely to die or need hospital treatment as a result of heart disease. Differences in cholesterol levels,…
Source PEGOGNAGA, ITALY, January 27, 2013 (Gazzetta Di Mantova): The two-day festival of the Hindu community of the Po River Lowlands began on Saturday with the “Shoba Yatra,” the procession of the divine statues, followed by a crowd of devotees through the streets of Pegognaga. The religious event, which was promoted by the “Shri Hari Om Mandir” in collaboration with…
Source UNITED STATES, January 2013 (gawker.com): A Taco Bell ad chastising party-poopers who bring veggie platters to Game Day has been pulled following a Twitter campaign launched by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “Veggies on game day is like punting on fourth and one — it’s a cop out,” the ad’s narrator sneers, before touting Taco Bell’s…
Source GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA, January 25, 2013 (Free Malaysia Today): About a million people are expected to throng the Waterfall vicinity here to celebrate the four-day annual Thaipusam festival, the state’s biggest Hindu event of the year. The Waterfall area is where several temples of Lord Muruga, the Nattukottai Chettiar community’s Sri Thandayuthabani Kovil and the Balathandayuthabani Kovil, are located.…
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 SOUTH JORDAN, UTAH, January 19, 2013 (Deseret News): When a member of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s staff first contacted Indra Neelameggham about giving the invocation for the governor’s inaugural ceremony earlier this month, one thought came quickly to her mind. “You must be looking for our priest,” said Neelameggham, one of the stalwarts of the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple…
Source Years ago, I used to walk for miles to meet my Guru. The distance appeared no longer than a few furlongs.— Dada J.P. Vaswani
Source CHENNAI, INDIA, January 22, 2013 (The Hindu): The Siva temple at Panaiyapuram in Tamil Nadu was to be demolished to make way for widening the Vikkiravandi-Thanjavur highway. When the plans to widen the NH-45C, cutting through the temple, became public, residents of Panaiyapuram, Pappanapattu, Mundiyampakkam, Kappiyampuliyur and Thuravi forgot their caste and class divisions and rose as one to…
Source FIJI, January 23, 2013 (The Jet): Nadi town will be a hive of activity from tomorrow for the next eleven days as the Sri Siva Subramanya Swamy Temple (Nadi Temple) gets all ready to host the annual Thaipoosam Thirunaal. The annual prayers draw a large number of devotees to the temple, the largest Hindu shrine in the southern hemisphere…
Source Go beyond science, into the region of metaphysics. Real religion is beyond argument. It can only be lived simultaneously inwardly and outwardly.— Swami Sivananda (1887-1963), founder of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh