Page 147 - Religion Belief

Thousands take part in Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath at Himachal's Hamirpur

Thousands of devotees took part in the annual Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath, Maan Subhadra and Lord Baldev here today. The idols of the deities were taken in flower- bedecked chariots and the 22-km long yatra, which started from here, ended at Dangri on the Hamirpur-Pathankot National Highway. Devotees chanted "Hari Bol, Har Bol" and danced to devotional songs. This yatra is being considered one of the longest in the history. It was flagged off by Bhakti Prashad Vishnu Maharaj, head of the Dangri math of Lord Krishna. Earlier, people thronged the local lord Shiva temple to pay their obeisance. The idols of Lord Jagannath, Maan Subhadra and Lord Baldev were especially brought to Hamirpur from Dangri Math in the early hours today and were taken back in the evening. The seven-day Bhagwat Katha by Swami Vishnu Prashad ji Maharaj, head of the Dangri temple, also concluded today.

Lakhs turn up for Rath Yatra celebrations in West Bengal

Thousands of devotees chanting "Jai Jagannath" and "Hare Krishna" pulled the ropes, as West Bengal celebrated the Chariot Festival or Ratha Yatra, Lord Jagannath's annual visit to his aunt's house, with gaiety and religious fervour on Saturday.

Hindus need to shun slave mentality: Joshi

RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi has said that Hindus need to shun slave mentality and self-centredness, and work unitedly for the country, the religion and the society. He also expressed dissatisfaction that the Hindu society was divided into different sects. "Hindu philosophy is based on the principle that everyone has a right to live. It is the strength of the Hindu society," Joshi said. "But Hindu society is divided into different sects. We should strive to bring equality among all the Hindus in the country," he said. He was speaking at Samajik Sadbhav (communal harmony) meeting in Somnath town in Gir Somnath district yesterday. "The present plight of the Hindu society is due to several evils like slave mentality, which needs to be removed. Hindus need to shun self-centredness and work for the country, the religion and the society," Joshi said.

SAD urges Chandigarh UT Admin to rollback notification on helmets for women

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today urged the UT Chandigarh Administration to rollback its July 6 notification wherein helmets has been made compulsory for all women, except turbaned Sikh women. Claiming that the Chandigarh administration's move has deeply hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community, SAD's senior vice president and spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said, "The Union Territory has absolutely no right to define or redefine the identity of a Sikh woman or to determine who is a Sikh woman in the eyes of law." He argued that Sikh tenets forbid wearing of any cap or helmet. "According to the tenets of Sikh religion, it is not necessary for a Sikh woman to wear a turban. This is entirely her choice. In Sikhism, turban is compulsory only for men. "Almost 99.99 per cent of Sikh women cover their heads with 'dupattas'. The exemption to Sikh women from wearing a helmet is applicable to all of them. But under the new notification, Sikh women have been denied their rights," .

Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath begins in Odisha

Lakhs of devotees on Saturday thronged this pilgrim town in Odisha to witness the annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings.

Two Indian Americans donate Rs 13.5 cr to Tirupati temple

Two Indian Americans donated Rs 13.5 crore to the Lord Venkateswara temple here on Saturday.

Amit Shah attends 'Mangal Arti' at Jagannath temple in Ahmedabad

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah attended 'Mangal Arti' at Jagannath temple here on Saturday early morning.Shah, who is in Gujarat for a one-day visit will also take part in various events in the vicinity of the city.Later, he is scheduled to address a youth parliament in a university in Gandhinagar.The nine-day annual festival of Jagannath Rath Yatra began today.The Yatra marks the return on Lord Krishna to his place Vrindavan along with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra.

PM sends offerings to Lord Jagannath ahead of Rath Yatra

On the eve of the annual Jagannath Rath Yatra here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today sent traditional offerings to the Lord Jagannath temple. Modi has been sending offerings to the temple ahead of the Rath Yatra for the last many years. "As always, the PM has kept his commitment and sent sprouted moong, jamun, pomegranate and mangoes, which will be offered to Lord Jagannath," said the head priest of the temple, Dilipdasjee Maharaj. According to temple trustee Mahendra Jha, Modi had stayed in the temple for a brief period during his early days. "Since he (Modi) stayed here during his early life, when he was not a known figure, Modi is attached to the temple," he said. Sprouted green gram and jamun are traditionally offered to Lord Jagannath during the chariot procession. The 141st Rath Yatra will start from the Jagannath temple in Jamalpur area amid tight security tomorrow morning and those expected to attend the event include Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and many other ...

What makes a saint?

Indians use fancy titles to project their holiness. That is why Adityanath uses the prefix 'Yogi' and Das uses 'Acharya'

Babri Masjid destroyed by 'Hindu Taliban': SC told

The Babri Masjid was destroyed by the "Hindu Taliban" just like the demolition of the Buddha statue by the Taliban at Bamiyan in Afghanistan, a litigant in the Ayodhya temple-mosque land dispute case told the Supreme Court today. No law or the Constitution allows destruction of religious structures of any faith, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the legal heirs of M Siddiq -- one of the original litigants in the case and has died, told a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer. Dhavan also questioned the locus of the Shia Central Waqf Board in the case. His comments came after the Shia board told the bench that it was willing to donate one-third of the disputed land, which the Allahabad High Court had given to the Muslims, to the Hindu group for "peace, harmony, unity and integrity" in this great country. The counsel for the Shia Central Waqf Board said they were the claimants of the Muslim share of land at the disputed Ayodhya site,

Just as Taliban destroyed Bamiyan Buddha, Hindu Taliban destroyed Babri Masjid, SC told

The Supreme Court on Friday was told that just as the statue of Bamiyan Buddha was destroyed by the Afghan Taliban, similarly the Hindu Taliban razed the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.

Modi loses nearly 3 lakh Twitter followers, Rahul Gandhi 17,000

As Twitter began sanitising its platform by removing inactive and locked accounts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lost nearly 300,000 followers while Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi lost over 17,000 followers.

Major govt run TN temples to get FSSAI tag for 'prasadam'

As many as 47 major temples in Tamil Nadu run by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department will get Food Safety and Standards Authority of India certification for their 'prasadam,' an official said today. Prasadam, a material substance of food, is a religious offering and is normally consumed by devotees after offering prayers The exercise, aimed at ensuring quality and bringing in standardisation, began with the prasadam of the famous Sri Palani Murugan temple's (Dhandayuthapaniswamy temple) 'Panchamirtham' (a mix of banana, ghee, honey, sugar and dates). "Palani Murugan temple was our pilot project. We have initiated the process of (getting) FSSAI certification in other 46 temples as well," the official said. The Murugan temple's panchamirtham prasadam now features FSSAI licence number, price, weight and best before date. On the reason for the initiative, the official told PTI "quality assurance is our priority... incidents of people taking ill after ...

PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi lose Twitter followers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi, among others on Friday lost thousands of Twitter followers after the micro-blogging site deleted several suspicious and inactive accounts.Prime Minister Modi, according to socialblade.com, lost 2, 84,746 followers and currently has 43.1 million followers.The Congress President, on the other hand, lost 17,503 followers. He currently has 7.33 million followers on Twitter.Other politicians who lost the followers are as follows:-External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj - 74,132-Congress leader Shashi Tharoor - 1, 51,509-Trinamool Congress leader Derek O' Brien - 10,902-Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani- 41,280Meanwhile, Twitter accounts across the globe saw a drop in their follower count as the micro-blogging site removed "locked accounts" - accounts which have not validated their ownership."As part of our ongoing and global effort to build trust and encourage healthy conversation on Twitter, every part of the service ...

Nun abuse case: Nuns, priests, laity write to Vatican

A section of nuns, priests and laity of the Roman Catholic Church has written to the Vatican over the alleged rape of a nun in Kerala by a bishop, urging it "to do what is right" to provide justice to the women in the church. The letters were written to Giambattista Diquttro, Apostolic Nuncio to India and the Catholic Bishops Conference of India Cardinal Oswald Gracias. The church authorities were requested to "advise" Pope Francis to "relieve" Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal "of his pastoral responsibilities so that the church is seen to actually practice the zero tolerance it professes to observe in abuse cases." Stating that they were concerned about the integrity of the Indian church, the letters stated that people's faith in the credibility of the church to implement its policy of zero tolerance in abuse matters would continue to erode if the accused bishop remain in his position at Jalandhar diocese. They said the "mud slinging" between the bishop and his priests on one hand .

Shankaracharya: A remarkable genius that Hinduism produced (Book Review)

Title: Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism's Greatest Thinker; Author: Pavan K. Varma; Publisher: Tranquebar Press; Pages: 364; Price: Rs 699

Maha govt not distributing copies of Gita in colleges: Tawde

The Maharashtra government today rejected claims of the Opposition parties that it was distributing copies of the Bhagwad Gita in educational institutions in the state. "The government is not distributing the Bhagwad Gita. The Bhaktivedanta Trust of Bhiwandi in adjoining Thane district wanted to distribute copies of the Gita in some colleges and so we gave them a list of colleges. If someone wants to distribute copies of the Bible or the Koran, we will also give them the list of colleges," Tawde today said. Earlier in the day, former chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan had objected to the reported distribution of the copies of the Gita in NAAC 'A' colleges of Mumbai by the office of the Deputy Director for Higher Education for Mumbai. Addressing the media here, Chavan said that the incident was "unfortunate", adding that, if at all any book needed to be distributed, it should be the Constitution written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. "We are a secular state. All religions are equal and no ..

Seychelles envoy calls on Pondy CM

High Commissioner of the Republic of Seychelles to India Philippe Le Gall called on Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy at his office here on Thursday, official sources said. The Chief Minister explained to the visiting envoy the various tourism-related features and development of the Union Territory, they said. Territorial Minister of Health and Tourism Malladi Krishna Rao was also present, the sources said. The meeting was described as a courtesy call.

VHP's NRI group visits Ayodhya

A group of 150 non-resident Indians (NRIs) from 22 countries, affiliated to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), visited Ayodhya today and offered prayers at the makeshift Ram temple. The group members also visited other prominent temples such as Hanuman Garhi, Kanak Bhawan and Nageshwar Nath, and took holy dip in the Saryu river. The members of the group hailed from Europe, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, a VHP leader said, adding that they attended a meeting at the organisation's office in Delhi yesterday. A member of the group demanded that the Narendra Modi government build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya as promised before the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Plea in NGT to stop building of 70 storey temple in Vrindavan

A plea in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) here on Thursday sought stay on the construction of a 70 storey temple being built by ISKCON in Uttar Pradesh's Vrindavan, claiming it will lead to a drop in ground water and harm the environment.