Source PRAYAG, INDIA, January 10, 2013 (BBC, by Mark Tully): The Kumbha Mela is expected to be the biggest religious gathering of humanity in the world. In my long years in India I have seen many spectacles but none so remarkable as the two Maha or Great Kumbha Melas which I attended. I have seen vast crowds assemble but none…
Source We do not know the various kinds of saints, how they behave, what they do and eat, etc. We only know that by God’s grace they manifest themselves in this world to liberate the ignorant and bound souls.— Shirdi Sai Baba (1838-1915)
KAUAI, HAWAII, January 15, 2013: Hinduism Today’s reporting team, journalist Rajiv Malik and photographer Thomas Kelly, will arrive at the Kumbha Mela January 28th and stay through February 12th. We would appreciate suggestions of noted swamis and sadhus to meet and interview so that we may give an expanded coverage to this great event. There are hundreds of thousands of…
Source LUCKNOW, INDIA, January 11, 2013 (Outlook India): Airlines, hotels, tour operators and Uttar Pradesh in general are likely to reap a windfall during the Maha Kumbha Mela in the state with the government likely to see its coffers swelling by US$2.2 billion, according to an industry body. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India’s paper — “Maha…
Source KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 13, 2013 (The Star): Malaysia’s Tamil Hindu community celebrates on Monday its best-loved festival, Pongal, the only festival which follows a solar calendar to mark the beginning of Uttarayana, the Sun’s movement northward for a six-month period. To usher in the harvest festival, the community is buying an assortment of colorfully-decorated clay pots, wooden ladles…
Source For seven lives in seven bodies the grateful will remember friends who relieved their anguish and affliction.— Saint Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural, verse 107
Source INDIA, January 9, 2013 (boldsky.com): Hindu Festivals are an exuberant celebration of peace and harmony and Makar Sankranti (Thai Pongal) is no exception. It is an amalgamation of spirituality and science with great pageantry. Makar Sankranti is a major harvest festival celebrated in various parts of India. According to science, the winter solstice comes to an end where the…
Source There is nothing amazing in the world. Your ignorance shows when you find it so. It all happened long, long ago. What can be amazing? I am you and you are me. I am eternal, birthless, deathless, changeless, secondless.— Satguru Yogaswami, (1862-1964) Sri Lankan mystic
Source BENGALURU, INDIA, January 14, 2013 (Deccan Herald): Balagangadharanatha Swami, pontiff of Adichunchanagiri mutt, was born as Gangadharayya on January 25, 1945, in a Subedar family at Banandur in Bidadi hobli of Ramanagar district. One of the six children of Chikkalingegowda and Boramma, Gangadharayya completed his primary education at his birthplace. After completing SSLC with a first class in 1963,…
Source BENGALURU, INDIA, January 13, 2013 (Deccan Herald): Balagangadharanatha Swamiji, the pontiff of the Adichunchanagiri Mutt in Nagamangala of Mandya district, died on Sunday evening at BGS Global Hospital, Kengeri. Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and Dr K N Venkataramana, vice-chairman of the hospital, announced his sad demise on the hospital premises on behalf of the mutt on Sunday night. The…