SourcePURI, INDIA, July 1, 2003: They are chariot makers for the Gods, and millions of devotees depend on them to help make the festival, dedicated to Lord Jagannath, successful. The 10 artisan families in the temple town of Puri have been making the chariots of devotion for hundreds of years. They are known as Maharana, or carpenters, and are given…
SourceCHICAGO, ILLINOIS, July 2, 2003: The Vivekananda Vedanta Society, Chicago, has completed its purchase of 15 acres where they will build the first Sri Ramakrishna Universal Temple in North America, Swami Chidananda, President of the society, announced today. “We are very pleased to share this historic news. The greatest activity of the Vedanta Society is to disseminate spiritual education, which…
SourcePURI, INDIA, July 1, 2003: Millions of devotees converged in Puri Tuesday to participate in the annual chariot festival dedicated to Lord Jagannath. The three chariots bearing the murthis of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra were pulled through the main streets of the town and taken to Gundicha temple. The Deities will remain there until July 9 and then journey…
Rajiv Malik, Hinduism Today New Delhi CorrespondentNEW DELHI, INDIA, July 1, 2003: A special function was organized by Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh, at Yoga Shakti Peeth, Mehrauli, New Delhi on July 1, 2003, to honor those undertaking the pilgrimage to Lake Mansarovar. A large number of saints, politicians, media persons and pilgrims attended the function. His Holiness, Swami Chidananda Saraswati, affectionately…
SourceUNITED STATES, June 30, 2003: Long unknown in East Asia, where centuries of tradition dictate that children care for their parents until death, retirement homes have become part of the American experience for a generation of aging immigrants. The cultural taboo, coupled at times with a language barrier, has made adjustment that much harder for some seniors and compounded the…
SourceTIRUPATI, INDIA, July 1, 2003: Since armed guards are forbidden inside the Venkateswara temple, one of India’s most revered religious shrines, authorities want to assign its security to a trusted insider, a Hindu priest with a black belt in karate. K. Seshadri has been asked by officials in Tirupati to teach younger priests to defend themselves and the temple from…
SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, July 1, 2003: About 100,000 Hindus have registered for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage Kashmir, despite the threat of militant attacks. Each year tens of thousands of Hindus from around the world head to Amarnath, located in the foothills of the Himalayas, for a month-long pilgrimage, which this year begins on July 12. The state government has regulated…
World MagazineJAKARTA, INDONESIA, June 28, 2003: Indonesia’s parliament on June 11 passed a controversial education bill that requires schools with 10 or more students from any particular religion to provide those students “religious education in their own faith from a teacher of that faith.” That stipulation falls heavily on Christian schools. While Christians do not generally send their children to…
SourceMADHYA PRADESH, INDIA, July 2, 2003: Colonel Martin, formerly of the British army, was stationed in India during the 1800’s and built a temple in Malwa to Lord Siva in 1883. The story behind the construction goes something like this: the Colonel’s wife became very concerned when she no longer was receiving messages from her husband, whom she knew was…
SourceBOSTON, UNITED STATES, July 1, 2003: During his tenure as the Infinity Foundation Visiting Professor of Indic Studies, Harvard University, Professor Arvind Sharma intensively researched the axiom that Hindus lack a sense of history. He concludes that this unfortunate impression arose out of a conflation between the different concepts of time in Hinduism and must be discarded in the light…