Source TAMIL NADU, INDIA, July 7, 2016 (BBC News): The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s “Amma Canteens,” which serve cheap meals to hundreds of thousands of people daily, have become immensely popular with the poor and the middle classes. The menu today includes rice cooked with lentils and spices and curd rice. The former is selling for seven cents a…
Source HYDERABAD, INDIA, July 5, 2016 (Deccan Chronicle): Land belonging to temples has become a soft target for encroachers, with a preliminary inquiry by endowments department showing that over 14,500 acres had been encroached upon. The inquiry revealed that large scale encroachments took place in the last 15 years due to the sharp rise in land prices. Lack of coordination…
Source When individuals change for the better, then society will change, and when society changes, then the country will change.— Pramukh Swami Maharaj, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
Source HOUSTON, TEXAS, July 5, 2016 (Houston Chronicle, by Kavita Pallod): For me, as for most tweens, middle school was a time of all-encompassing awkwardness. I didn’t know what to do with my oddly proportioned limbs, how to dress while my mom was still shopping for me, what was acceptable to pack for lunch or even how to greet my…
Source TIRUVANNAMALAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA July 2, 2016 (by A.D Balasubramaniyan, The Hindu): Activists in Tiruvannamalai opposing the move to widen the girivalam (circumambulation) path, have decided to come together to protest against the work. Work has begun for the digging of a ditch for a 12-km long drainage line along the proposed foot path. Many activists, environmentalists, pilgrims and…
Source UNITED STATES, July 2, 2016 (NCBI Abstract): HPI note: We found this an interesting investigation into both ritual and placebo effect. It is from a scientific, not mystical viewpoint, obviously, but still food for thought. Using a comparative analysis of Navajo healing ceremonials, acupuncture and biomedical treatment, this essay examines placebo studies and ritual theory as mutually interpenetrating disciplines.…
Source NEW DELHI, INDIA, July 2, 2016 (Prameya News7): The Supreme Court on Friday decided to intervene in an issue described by the Madras high court as “land of lords in trouble” and expressed concern over rampant encroachment, misuse and misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of acres of temple lands. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate K K Mani said Tamil…
Source “May I take your order?” the waiter asked. “Yes. I’m just wondering, how do you prepare your chickens?” “Nothing special, sir,” he replied. “We just tell them straight out that they’re going to die.”
Source One who is established in a comfortable posture while concentrating on the inner Self naturally becomes immersed in the Heart’s ocean of bliss.— Siva Sutras III, 16
Source BANGLADESH, July 2, 2016 (The Daily Star): Assailants attacked a Hindu priest leaving him severely injured in Satkhira Sadar Upazila early today, a day into the killing of a Hindu priest in Jhenidah and a Buddhist man in Bandarban. Bhabasindhu Bor, priest of local Sree Sree Radha Govinda temple in Brahmarajpur village of Satkhira Sadar Upazila, is undergoing treatment…