Source JAMMU, INDIA, June 21, 2012 (business-standard.com): With barely three days left for the start of the annual Amarnath yatra to begin from here, Bagwatinagar-base camp was made operational today. The base-camp has been operationalised for the arrival of the pilgrims who will leave in the first batch to Amarnath cave shrine on June 24, Tourism department officials said here.…
Source BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, May 12 2012 (asiacalling.org): On May 6, Belgium hosted the largest Balinese festival held outside of Indonesia. The Ogoh-Ogoh festival features giant Balinese puppets and traditionally marks Nyepi, or Balinese New Year – a day marked by silence on the island of the gods. The event was held in Pairi Daizi Park, a former monastery turned international…
Source AUSTRALIA, June 21, 2012 (smh.com): People professing to have no religion have moved past Anglicans to become the second-largest grouping after Catholics in the 2011 Census. Almost 4.8 million people said they had no religion, up 29 per cent from 2006, but the number of people not answering the question dropped by 2 per cent. This suggested that more…
Source AUSTRALIA, June 21, 2012(abc.net.au): Australia’s population has topped 21.5 million, according to the 2011 census results, although there has been a further decline in the proportion of people holding Australian citizenship. The initial census results give a glimpse into the changing face of Australia, including its multicultural background. The data shows one in four people were born overseas, and…
Source Whenever you have the chance, laugh as much as you can. By this all the rigid knots in your body will be loosened. But to laugh superficially is not enough; your whole being must be united in laughter, both inwardly and outwardly. Do you know how this is to be expressed? You literally shake with merriment from head to…
Source EDMONTON, CANADA, June 2012 (Edmonton Examiner): Acharya Shiv Shankar Dwivedi, is a priest–or pandit–at the Edmonton Hindu Cultural Centre. There is now a documentary so you can learn about this remarkable man who leads three separate and very different lives. Panditji, as Dwivedi is affectionately known, is a family man, a philanthropist who has brought education to a small…
Source When culture is flooding out of the temple, our actions are productive and our minds are creative, our speech is pure, our hearts rejoice and we become good citizens. Religion makes us good citizens, because we are peaceful inside and want peace in our land. Peace comes first from the individual. It is unrealistic to expect peace from our…
Source LUCKNOW, INDIA, June 19, 2012 (twocircles.net): Varanasi’s famous Kashi Vishwanath temple will be given a major facelift and the salaries of the priests will be increased, the Uttar Pradesh government announced Tuesday. After a meeting of the temple trust, Religious Endowments Minister Anand Singh said that other than making provisions for booking online darshan of the Deity, fibre glass…
Source BHUBANESWAR,INDIA, June 19 (TNN): With Rath Yatra just two days away, Puri, the temple town is packed with visitors which includes foreign tourists. They have been waiting for the day to have a glimpse of the presiding deities of Puri Jagannath temple. These deities, off limits to non-Hindus and even foreigners who have been converted to Hinduism, will be…
Source WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2012 (HPI): The renowned Pew Research Center has issued a new report on immigrant minorities in the US. According to “The Rise of Asian Americans,” “Asians have overtaken Hispanics as the largest group of new immigrants arriving each year in the United States. Two-thirds of recent adult Asian immigrants are either college students or college…