Source GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS, October 15, 2018 (Lowell Sun): Banana bunches and other fruits welcome worshippers at the entrance as they ascend a tall flight of steps to the main hall — representing the people’s rite of passage from the earthly to the divine world. Inside the new 40,000-square-foot, two-floor temple, they see a familiar sight in the lobby: Lord Ganesha,…
Source SINGAPORE, October 29, 2018 (Straits Times): Close to 4,500 devotees braved the heat last night at Sri Mariamman Temple in South Bridge Road for the annual fire-walking festival, or Theemithi. Displaying nerves of steel, they strode barefoot across a bed of burning charcoal, before stepping into a pit of milk. The ritual, held a week before Deepavali, is a…
Source AUSTRALIA, October 25, 2018 (Indian Link): The history of Hinduism in Australia goes back to the arrival of the First Fleet in 1787. It is understood that there were some Indians, possibly Hindus, who arrived with early European settlers [half of them convicts]. A recent study of Indigenous Australian DNA suggests there was some form of migration from India…
Source Look at your mind dispassionately; this is enough to calm it. Only when it is quiet can you go beyond it. Do not keep the mind busy all the time, stop it and just be. If you give it a rest, it will settle down and recover its purity and strength. — Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981), Hindu sage
Source To drink pure water from a shallow pond, one should gently take the water from the surface without disturbing the mud at the bottom. If you desire to be pure, have firm faith and slowly go on with your devotional practices without wasting your energy in useless scriptural discussions and arguments. Keep your mind like clear water, for God…
Source TEA, SOUTH DAKOTA, October 15, 2018 (KSFY) – It’s the first of its kind here in South Dakota. Oct. 14th was the grand opening of the Hindu Temple of Siouxland. After almost ten years, people who practice the Hindu faith were finally able to enter their newly finished Temple. The celebration was open to the public. Temple members say…
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 25, 2018 (CNN): India is set to unveil the world’s tallest statue next week, the towering figure of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a popular political and social leader, who was part of the freedom struggle that resulted in India’s independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Looming 182 meters (597 feet) above the Narmada River in…
Source You may turn your bones to fuel, your flesh to meat, letting them roast and sizzle in the gold-red blaze of severe austerities. But unless your heart melts in love’s sweet ecstacy, you never can possess my Lord Siva, my treasure-trove. — Tirumantiram Verse 272
Source HOUSTON, TEXAS, October 19, 2018 (Houston Chronicle): For Vijay Pallod, a board member of the Hindus of Greater Houston, attracting young people to his organization was sometimes a struggle. “It’s always hard to find youth,” he said. “We wanted to have our own youth council. We want to unite all the Hindu youth across Houston. We’ve been trying for…
Source SUGAR LAND, TEXAS, October 20, 2018 (Houston Chronicle): The sounds of drums and Indian dance music echoed Saturday night through Skeeter Stadium in Sugar Land, a place usually filled with fans cheering to the crack of baseball bats. Yellow banners reading “Jai Shri Ram,” or “Victory to Lord Rama,” hung from the walkway’s ceiling. Dozens of red-tented vendor booths…