Scarcely can there ever have been such hype surrounding the news that a British High Commissioner in Delhi was to visit one of India’s States. Yet the visit of His Excellency James Bevan to Gujarat and the announcement that he will meet with the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi has been greeted with both rejoicing and [...]
October 17, 2012
HHR
World Focus
High in the reaches of Mount Kailash is the abode of Lord Shiva. One evening Lord Vishnu, came to see Shiva. He left behind at the entrance Garuda, the half-man, half-eagle composite, who served as his vehicle. Garuda sat alone, marveling at the natural splendor of the place. Suddenly his eyes fell on a beautiful [...]
October 13, 2012
HHR
Hindu Wisdom
Hindu scriptures and tradition from the earliest times have condemned the practice of abortion, except when the life of the mother is in danger. Hindu scriptures refer to abortion with the terms garbha batta (womb killing) and bhrUNaghna (killing the undeveloped soul or embryo slayer). Hinduism has traditionally taught that a soul is reincarnated and [...]
Sri Ramakrishna was one day taunted by a sceptic that the Kali he worshipped at Dakshineshwar was only a slab of black stone carved into a bizarre female figure and decked with glittering trinkets. The saint was taken aback. So far he had not cared to see the sacred icon in its supreme spiritual splendour. [...]
October 11, 2012
HHR
Spirituality/Culture
From heroin and opium to barbiturates, cough syrup and painkillers, three out of four young people in Punjab are drug addicts. Over the last few years, the number of private detox centres has exploded. In some districts, pharmacies outnumber grocery stores. Why are drugs such a problem in this state, one of the richest in [...]
October 5, 2012
HHR
World Focus
It is an intuition ingrained in the Hindu psyche to inhabit our entire environment – celestial, physical, vegetable, animal, and human – with innumerable Gods and Goddesses. Some of these divinities are installed in temples as icons, and worshipped with well-defined rituals. Some others are worshipped as and where they are invoked. Hindu shastras, saints [...]
October 4, 2012
HHR
Spirituality/Culture
You Can Make A Difference ” It is important that all of you here with me tonight band together and do what you can to make a difference. It is important that you immediately refrain from following the patterns taught to you or your parents by the British Christians. One such pattern is that if [...]
October 1, 2012
HHR
Spirituality/Culture
Bangladesh— Hours after rampaging through a Buddhist village in Cox’s Bazaar’s Ramu Upazila in the early hours, religious fanatics on Sunday launched attacks on Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries in Patia at noon. “The attacks took place between noon and 1:30pm,” Acting Officer-in-Charge of the Patia Police Station Aminur Rashid told bdnews24.com. The police officer [...]
October 1, 2012
HHR
Bangladesh, News updates
Pakistan : In an extraordinary turn of events, Section 295-A was used to register a blasphemy case against Muslim men for damaging a Hindu temple during riots on Ishq-e-Rasool Day. Section 295-A is the lesser known, non Islam-specific clause of the country’s notorious blasphemy law. The Shri Krishna Bhagwan Mandir, located in the Gulshan-e-Maymar area [...]
October 1, 2012
HHR
News updates, Pakistan
In 1905 Einstein published a paper about the “Photoelectric Effect” which showed that electromagnetic radiation can behave as particles rather than waves in some experiments. It was for this work that he later won the Nobel prize for Physics even though he is more famous for his work on Relativity (with its famous equation E=mc2). [...]