Source INDIA, November 28, 2020 (Hindustan Times): The Uttar Pradesh government has banned “unlawful religious conversions” with immediate effect as governor Anandiben Patel promulgated the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance on Saturday. The ordinance has stricter provisions to check religious conversions carried out by allurement, coercion, use of force or fraudulent means, and for marrying women…
Source HYDERABAD, INDIA, November 27, 2020 (Telangana Today): For many decades in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, temples used to be in shambles, with many historic ones beginning to fall apart with no repair, conservation or maintenance works taken up. Priests, too, struggled to stay afloat, with the mediocre salaries being barely enough for two square meals a day. From 2014,…
Source He cannot be seen by the eye, and words cannot reveal Him. He cannot be reached by the senses, or by austerity or sacred actions. By the grace of wisdom and purity of mind, He can be seen, indivisible, in the silence of contemplation. This invisible Atman can be seen by the mind wherein the five senses are resting.—…
Source INDIA, November 25, 2020 (The Guardian): [HPI note: this story doesn’t have a particular “Hindu” angle, but we found it an innovative example of environmental activism.] Every morning, students in Assam’s Pamohi village go to school clutching a bag of plastic waste, in exchange for which they will get their day’s lessons. Akshar School, founded by Mazin Mukhtar, 32,…
Source INDIA, November 23, 2020 (News Track): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Sunday, said Covid or no Covid, Kumbh Mela will be held in its divine form at Haridwar in 2021. A meeting was arranged with the office-bearers of the sadhu Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad (ABAP) to discuss the preparations for the 2021 Kumbh Mela, beginning on January…
Source The food of the soul is silence. If we don’t practice silence, we are starving ourselves.— Dada J.P. Vaswani, spiritual head of Sadhu Vaswani mission
Source PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD/TOBAGO, November 23, 2020 (HPI by Paras Ramoutar): Brahma Vidya Peetham International (BVPI) celebrated World Ayurveda Day on Friday 13th November at the ashram in Gasparillo here. The festivity was organized under the guidance of BVPI president Professor Dilip Dan. A group of medical professionals participated in this event, speaking on the benefits and the use of Ayurveda…
Source OTTAWA, CANADA, November 21, 2020 (India Times): A Canadian university will soon return to India a unique statue of Hindu Goddess Annapurna that was stolen from a shrine in Varanasi over a century ago and found its way to the varsity’s art gallery, in an attempt to “right historical wrongs” and help overcome the “damaging legacy of colonialism.”. The…
Source Only in the depth of pure silence can we hear God’s voice. Silence is like an upright empty glass that is capable of being filled with, and retaining, the water of knowledge.— Mata Amritanandamayi Ma, India’s Kerala-based “hugging saint “
Source image: SOUTH AFRICA, November 26, 2020 (News 24): The first group of Indian indentured labourers arrived in South Africa in 1860. The majority settled in Natal because they were originally requested by local farmers. Like India, Natal was a British colony. Most of them were Hindus, although not exclusively so. South Africa’s Indian population currently stands at 1,286,930 (2.5%…