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Source KARACHI, PAKISTAN, January 7, 2017 (Pakistan Christian Post): The Governor of Sindh, Saeeduzzaman Siddique, refuses to ratify the forced conversion bill passed by Sindh Assembly in November 2016 following protests by MQM, JI and other Muslim religious parties. Religious minorities here say they have lost confidence in so-called moderate Muslim political groups also. The Forced Conversion Bill was presented…

Source When we think about someone, we’re sending a thought form to that person, and that thought form is affecting them. If it is a positive, uplifting thought, it affects them in a positive, uplifting way. If it is a critical thought, it affects them in a negative way. — Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today

Source KAUAI, HAWAII, January 6, 2017 (WordPress by Manu): My parents and I are spending the first two weeks of 2017 in Kauai, Hawaii. A large part of my identity which is masked in my daily life is visible here–my Hindu identity, that is. Each time my family returns to the island, it’s a pilgrimage of sorts. The Kauai Aadheenam,…

Source KATMANDU, NEPAL, January 4, 2017 (Kathmandu Post): Fourteen statues and two conch shells which were stolen from the Chandannath Temple in Jumla district headquarters Khalanga on November 26 were found at Depalgaun-2 in the district on Tuesday. Local women had spotted the statues at Rokayawada while they were going to the forest to collect firewood. One of them immediately…

Source Japa, austerities, observances, pilgrimage, sacrifice, charity–all these become a mere waste without understanding the guru tattva. — Kularnava Tantra 24

Source CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, USA (HPI): Varun Khanna, assistant professor of Sanskrit Grammar (Vyakarana) at the new Chinmaya University at Adi Sankara Nilayam in Veliyanad, Ernakulum, Kerala, is offering a Sanskrit course by Webinar tentatively to start February 5, 2017. He writes: “This Webinar is for people who want an introduction from scratch to Sanskrit in an easy and systematic way…

Source WASHINGTON, Jan 5, 2017 (Daily Excelsior): Hindus and Jews have gained ground in the new US Congress, even as the latest research suggests that the members of the legislative body remain overwhelmingly Christians despite significant change in the religious demographic profile of the country in less than five decades.This is for the first time in American history that the…

Source As the body needs food to survive and grow, the soul needs love. Love instills a strength and vitality that even mother’milk cannot provide. All of us live and long for real love. We are born and die searching for such love. Children, love each other and unite in pure love. — Mata Amritanandamayi, Kerala-based hugging saint and Hinduism…

Source KASHMIR, INDIA, December 26, 2016 (Hindustan Times): The manual dyeing of fabric and threads has been an industry in Kashmir for around 2 centuries. The process involves the mixing and producing of the specific colors needed for the dye, the soaking of fabric in boiling colored water and then drying the threads. The practice of dyeing is in decline…

Source BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, January 1, 2017 (New York Times): Huston Smith, a renowned scholar of religion who pursued his own enlightenment in Methodist churches, Zen monasteries and even Timothy Leary’s living room, died on Friday at his home in Berkeley, Calif. He was 97. Professor Smith was best known for “The Religions of Man” (1958), which has been a standard…