Source SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, July 14, 2017 (Courthouse News): A federal judge on Thursday refused to dismiss a lawsuit claiming California treats Hinduism unfavorably compared to other religions in its public education standards and framework. In refusing to dismiss one of four claims against the state, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer cited a student’s letter detailing how sixth graders were…
Source CHENNAI, INDIA, July 15, 2017 (Times of India): Thousands of acres of land belonging to temples across Tamil Nadu continues to be in the name of private persons. The state government has recovered 5559 acres of such lands owned by 789 temples in the last six years. This vast acreage is 1/10th the size of Coimbatore city. It has…
Source By constantly repeating, “I am free, I am free,” a man verily becomes free. On the other hand, by constantly repeating, “I am bound, I am bound,” he certainly becomes bound. The fool who says only, “I am a sinner, I am a sinner,” verily drowns himself in worldliness. One should rather say: “I praise the name of God.…
Source BOGOTA, COLOMBIA, July 11, 2017 (CGTN America): According to some estimates, 11 million people worldwide consider themselves of the ethnic group known as “Roma.” [The Roma or Gypsies are originally from India.] In Colombia the Roma are trying to preserve their culture and traditions as they make their home there. According to a 2005 government census, there are nearly…
Source FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, July 14, 2017 (press release): Yesterday afternoon, United States District Court Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco issued an order denying part of California state officials’ motion to dismiss the complaint brought by California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials (CAPEEM) and three parents of California schoolchildren that challenges the unconstitutional denigration of Hinduism in the…
Source JUCHEN, GERMANY, July 3, 2017 (NGZ Online, translated from German): It is quite colorful in the new Hindu temple at Hochstrasse 10b in Hochneukirch. Members of the Tamil community transformed a former supermarket into a Hindu temple with several large and small shrines, decorated in every detail, after just seven months of construction. With solemn ceremony and worship, the…
Source Free will is not free–it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect–but there is something behind the will which is free.— Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)
Source UNITED STATES, July 11, 2017 (New York Times by Sara Manning Peskin, MD): Every major organ in the body — heart, lungs, liver, kidneys — has the capacity to shut off the brain. It’s a biological veto system. The mysterious exception is “terminal lucidity,” a term coined by the biologist Michael Nahm in 2009 to describe the brief state…
Source Love says, “I am everything.” Wisdom says, “I am nothing.” Between the two, my life flows. I express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both.— Nisargadatta Maharaj (1897-1981), Hindu sage