VIJAYAWADA, INDIA, December 23, 2017 (Deccan Chronicle): : The Andhra Pradesh endowment department put out a circular banning New Year darshan end decorations across temples in the state from 2018. It said that only Ugadi should be celebrated as the New Year and that the temples should replace the English calendar. Ugadi, this year falling on March 18, is the first day of the lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra and observed as New Years day in Maharaashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana states. Priests and endowment officers used to conduct special programs on January 1 across temples in the state.
The first of its kind circular from Hindu Dharma Prachara Trust of endowments department secretary Dr. Chilakapati Vijaya Raghava Charyulu said the Christian era (Gregorian calendar) was being followed even after independence from the English 70 years ago. As New Year celebrations were not Hindu Vedic culture and English culture still prevailed in Hindu temples where devotees were wished with New Year greetings and lakhs were spent on decorations in temples, the custom had to be stopped.
RICHET, NEPAL, December 23, 2017 (eNCA): More than two years after an earthquake flattened the Nepali village of Richet, most residents are still living in makeshift shelters. Only the church has been rebuilt — paid for by Christian missionaries whose influence in the mainly Hindu country is growing. Despite strict laws that ban religious conversion, Christianity has spread rapidly over the last two decades in Nepal, where many see it as an escape from the deeply entrenched caste system. The Himalayan nation was ruled by a Hindu monarchy for over two centuries until the overthrow of the monarchy in 2008 and also has a strong Buddhist tradition, particularly in the mountainous north. But the remote Lapa Valley where Richet is located is now predominantly Christian.
Prashant Tamang, a community leader in the nearby village of Borang that has clung to its Buddhist heritage, said the selective distribution of aid had created tensions between communities. ”Dispute arises sometimes when Christians pressure poor people to adopt their religion by helping them in the time of need,” he told AFP. But a new criminal code that will come into force in August 2018 increases the potential jail sentence from three to five years and states that foreigners sentenced for the crime will be deported after serving their time. According to the 2011 government census, Christians make up less than 1.5 percent of Nepal’s population of 29 million.
UNITED KINGDOM, December 24, 2017 (Daily Mail): More than 250 couples in India tied the knot on Sunday as part of a mass wedding hosted by an Indian diamond trader. The mass wedding in Surat featured 251 young couples, including five Muslim couples, a Christian couple and two women who are HIV positive. The celebration was hosted by Indian diamond trader Mahesh Savani in the western state of Gujarat. Savani, who believes that giving away brides is a blessing from God, has been funding and organising mass weddings for fatherless women in Surat every year since 2012. He performs the Hindu wedding ritual of Kanyadaan – the practice of giving away one’s daughter in marriage.
In previous years, Savani has given gifts of gold and household items, including sofas and beds, worth 500,000 rupees ($7,400) to each of the brides to help them start married life. Savani said he feels a social responsibility to help the woman who can’t afford their own weddings. Weddings in India are expensive affairs with the bride’s family traditionally expected to pay the groom a large dowry of cash and gifts. Fathers in India traditionally pay for their daughters’ weddings, which can mean that if a bride’s father has died or is extremely poor, her chances of getting married are next to nil.
Colorful photos at source above.
The more we are conscious of God’s presence in daily life, the more intense is the fullness of the joy we experience. God means infinitely more to our existence than the light of the sun means to the plants and trees.
— Swami Omkarananda, (1930-2000), founder of Omkarananda Ashram, Rishikesh
