Spirituality/Culture

In 1968, only six years after founding the AEPi chapter at his Long Island University campus, Steven Silberfein took one of the thousand names of the Hindu god Vishnu and became Sridhar Silberfein.A year later, the one-time Jewish fraternity brother escorted the Hindu teacher Swami Satchidananda to the stage at Woodstock to deliver an invocation [...]

Devidas, a 36-year old temple priest by occupation from the Amaravathi district of Maharashtra, has something similar with these age old feats as he dared to ‘walk a different, difficult terrain’, to reach his destination, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi. He had a vow, a vow to God, to reach Puttaparthi as [...]

In these last centuries the world has changed remarkably, and today we are facing even deeper and wider changes than ever – changes we cannot avoid, because human society is becoming increasingly globalized.The history of Vedic tradition teaches us that as human beings, we have the power to participate in this change responsibly, by directing [...]

About a decade ago, a handful of Russian Hindu monks led by Swami Vishnudevanand laid the foundation of Divya Loka Ashram in the riverside region. Golden domed temples and tastefully landscaped lawns have replaced dilapidated wooden houses in the riverside region of Nizhny Novgorod. A picturesque monastery complex now exists where there used to be [...]

The Meaning of Dharma Dharma is perhaps the key term for the great spiritual traditions of India and East Asia, Hindu and Buddhist, whether relative to their understanding of the outer world of nature or the inner realm of consciousness. It is the basis of India’s vast and diverse culture and its deep commitment to [...]

World Hindu Youth (WHY) association hosted a seminar on “Reframing Bharat” followed by another on a “New vocabulary to describe Vedic dharma” recently at the Chinmaya Mission Badri campus Chicago USA  . Presented by best-selling author Jeffrey Armstrong, also known as Kavindra Rishi, from Vancouver, the seminars aim to teach the younger generation how to speak [...]

In an atmosphere where every morning, our newspapers greet us with stories of girls being tormented, raped, killed or treated like a doormat in one way or another, trust India’s “village republics” to bring in some good news from time to time. One such village in southern Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district is quietly practicing its own, [...]

While In ‘secular ‘ India Hinduism is often portrayed as being backward, irrational , anti woman and is ridiculed as an obstacle standing in the way of progress. Where the ‘progressive’ West is shown to be the standard template to copy and follow. But meanwhile in the real West Hinduism is on the rapid rise. [...]

Ugadi Ugadi is celebrated as New Year’s Day in Karnataka and Andhra pradesh. The name Ugadi is derived from the name “Yuga Adi”, which means ‘the beginning of a new age’.[1] It is celebrated on the first day of the Hindu month Chaitra, which marks the onset of spring. It is believed that Lord Brahma, [...]

Turmeric is a spice that is widely used as a spice for cooking in Indian kitchen. It is one of the most basic Indian spices without which food cannot be cooked in Indian households. But turmeric is not just a culinary ingredient. Turmeric has many spiritual uses in India. These spiritual uses of turmeric extend [...]