Grammy Awards for Kirtans?

Hindus have called for the introduction of "kirtan" as a new field of awards at the famed Grammys to be held at the Los Angeles' Staples Center on January 31 next year. Last Grammys were awarded in 110 music categories, covering 32 fields, including Pop, Rock, Rap, Country, New Age, Gospel, Jazz, Folk, World Music, Latin, Reggae, Blues, etc., for outstanding achievements.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that outside India, kirtan was attracting large audiences in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, and many other countries of the world, resulting in various new albums and creation of the star kirtan artists.

Rajan Zed points out that Kirtan is rapidly and continually growing in the West and becoming a vogue and bringing increasing number of Americans to its events. According to Kirtan participants, the powerful healing and transformational energies of these ancient chants in a living room style music experience help calming and focusing the mind, uplift, provide a soothing melody, inspire, bring peace and connectedness, etc. Its sacred and spiritual experience takes one to the state of deep meditation. Moreover, Kirtan is highly accessible and does not require training.

Kirtan (also referred to as call-and-response chanting session, ecstatic chanting, participatory music experience, devotional singing, sacred chant) is one of the oldest sacred music genres of the world, which originated in India many centuries ago. Mostly a Sanskrit chant with audience usually clapping and swaying and repeating the words after the singer with some dancing, its lyrics are usually something like "Om Nama Shivaya", "Jai Govinda Jai Gopala", "Shri Ram Jai Ram", "Om Shanti Om", etc.

Kirtan has produced lot of star performers in USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, Australia, etc., like Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, David Newman, Wah!, Shantala, Dave Stringer, Sean Johnson, Shyamdas, Snatam Kaur, etc., and has reached the mainstream venues.

With ticket/donation rates usually less than $25, Kirtan is a blessing in these difficult economic times as it offers means to connect to the heart, to the divinity that lies within, Rajan Zed adds.

Source: Newsblaze

Evangelists want to "save" Obama's Grandma From Eternal Damnation!

NAIROBI, KENYA: A row is simmering between Christians and Muslims in Kenya over reported attempts to convert President Obama’s grandmother, Sarah Obama, to Christianity.”We had invited her to grace our meeting in Kisumu,” Lewis Ondiek, an official with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kenya, told Ecumenical News International. “Mama Sarah had assured us that she was converting, and we were ready to baptize her today,” Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Tom Obuya claimed.

Some family members stopped Sarah Obama from attending the service, which was led by an Australian evangelist, John Jeremic. Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa, secretary of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, said “Mama Sarah should not be forced by anybody to join Christianity since she is a Muslim. Conversion must take place in a voluntary manner.” He said, “Muslims will not sit and watch one of their own being coerced by some religious leaders to convert to Christianity.”

The 87-year-old Obama captured the media spotlight in the remote, mainly Christian village of Kogelo, in western Kenya, soon after Barack Obama was elected president in November. She is widely sought after to preside over occasions because of her new status.

Source: RNS

"O Goddess Earth, Please Forgive Us As We Walk On You This Day"

Twentieth annual Nevada Earth Day Celebration opened with prayers from ancient Hindu Sanskrit scriptures on a biofuel-powered stage in Idlewild Park in Reno (Nevada, USA) on April 20, 2009.

Starting with Shanti Mantra in Sanskrit, acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed read “Prithvi Sukta” (hymn to earth) from Atharva-Veda, invoking the Goddess Earth, after sprinkling holy water of river Ganga from India around the stage.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, also prayed from another ancient scripture Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), where Lord Krishna is quoted as saying, “The brightness of the sun, which lights up the world, the brightness of the moon and of fire—these are my glory. With a drop of my energy I enter the earth and support all creatures. Through the moon, the vessel of life-giving fluid, I nourish all plants.”

We may believe in different religions, yet we share the same home—our Earth. We must learn to happily progress or miserably perish together. For man can live individually but can only survive collectively, Rajan Zed said quoting ancient Hindu scriptures. O Goddess Earth, please forgive us as we walk on you this day, Zed added.

According to Travis Owen Souza, one of the Directors of Nevada Econet, which organized this Celebration, the Earth Day participants, many of them came as families, took a very positive message home. Nevada Econet supported informed action on the important environmental issues impacting the region and quality of life.

Nevada, strewn with limitless tracts of desert and more mountain ranges than any other state, is the largest gold producing state in the nation and second in the world behind South Africa.

Source: http://www.webnewswire.com/node/451593

Bali celebrates Nyepi, a Hindu Festival

Isn’t it extraordinary that the country with the largest Hindu population is unaware of the most remarkable holiday in Hinduism? The largest
Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, declares a national holiday each year — this year, on March 26 — to mark Hindu-majority Bali’s day of silence, Hari Raya Nyepi Tahun Baru. This beautiful concept has been absorbed into the syncretic Muslim-Hindu culture of that unique nation.

We Indians are not averse to holidays, so we must be averse to silence. Since Hinduism went from India to Indonesia, the concept of Nyepi travelled the same route. Silence has been mislaid in the land of its origin.

The father of modern India, who could never resist the temptation of turning a virtue into a discipline, gave his voice a day off every week. Mahatma Gandhi would keep maun every Monday. If he had a meeting he could not avoid, say with a toff like a Viceroy, on a Monday, he would write down his answers on chits of paper and pass them on.

Source: Times of India

"Hinduism stands not to get influenced, but to influence”

The following is a first hand report of the Dharma Sabha by a Temple Project volunteer. Happy Reading!

Hindu Janajagruthi Samithi (HJS) organized a Dharma Sabha on 19th April, 2009 at the D.G. Vaishnav College, Chennai. The auditorium had an electrifying atmosphere with 400 Hindus gracing the occasion.

There was a grand reception, each one was invited by a traditional “Namaste” (becoming rare to hear these nowadays!). Tilak was applied to all (arousing the valiant Hindu spirit within each one),and rose water was sprinkled. Stalls were put up informing people about Hindu culture and spirituality. The meeting started off by the scintillating Veda Parayanam by the Chidambaram Dheekshithars, and soon the entire hall was sanctified.





V Sundaram began his talk by cautioning the Hindus against the forces of global Islam, Christianity, Marxism and the (more dangerous) anti-Hindu pseudo secularism by few political parties. The editor of News Today, expressed his dismay at the alarming rate in which the temples are being destroyed, with the government remaining a mute spectator. He said “A few countries like France, Italy had proudly declared their religion. In the US, before taking a vow, they commence their speech by mentioning ‘I promise on Jesus’, but why do we hesitate?” He concluded by urging every Hindu to feel proud of his religion and establish a Hindu nation.





Uma Ravichandran of HJS pointed out a few achievements of the organization like banning the entry of the film “Love Guru”in India,which demeaned the guru-shishya tradition, etc. She also said that around 8 lakh Hindus were being converted every year. The HJS member voiced “The plight of the children who were made to read the distorted version on Indian History (Ramakrishna Paramahamsa called a lunatic, Bhagat Singh called a terrorist, etc) has to be taken note.” She questioned why no monetary allocation was made for the Hindus and Sikhs after the Anti-Sikh riots and 1993 blasts when the minorities were given 330 crores.

Maharaj Anand Chaitanya Swamiji, a disciple of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, conveyed that if we wanted to protect our samskruti then we have to adhere to Dharma. The Swamiji,asked the crowd if they could make their sons and daughters feel proud of being a Hindu? Swamiji also pointed out that we are fed with biased news from most media houses (which have some vested interest) and asked “In the globalization era, instead of getting influenced, why cannot we influence others? This Hinduism stands not to get influenced,but to influence others.” These talks were laced with the invigorating cries of Vande Mataram, Bharat Mata Ki Jai, etc from the audience.

The last speaker of the day was Jagadguru Shri Jayendra Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, who began his address with a bang saying “ Only when there is birth, there will be death. As far as Hinduism is concerned, it is primordial (eternally present, without any beginning) and thus it has no death. We have to understand that Dharma always reigns supreme, whether we follow it or not.” The Acharya also said that according to the Tamil Tradition, we address a gathering of people as Sagodhara Sagodharigalle (brothers and sisters), treating each and everyone as our own family member unlike a few who address the people as ‘Paavigalle’ (Sinners).

The Acharya further requested all such organizations to unite as one and work together for Hindu Dharma.

A few resolutions passed by the HJS were:

1) Raise voice against the government for framing Sadhus.
2) Condemn TV channels and newspaper for calling Hindus as terrorists.
3) Execution of death sentence of Afzal guru.
4) Cancellation of funds for the Haj Pilgrims
5) Allocation of permanent place of stay for 5 lakh Kashmiri Hindus.
6) M F Hussain (famous for nude paintings! He painted Bharat Mata and other Hindu Gods and Godesses nude) should be brought back to India, and must be awarded punishment.
7) Protest against conversion.
8) Dheekshithars should have a control over the temple.
9) 10 Rs coin having cross symbol should be withdrawn.

‘Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara’ was loudly chanted after passing each resolution.

The meeting seemed to be an eye opener for the common Hindu who is usually in his sleeping state (or Tamasic) urging him to bring out the Kshatriya in him. The call of Vivekananda to “Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached” is very much relevant to the Hindu society today.

Southeast Asia and its Hindu Footprints

New Delhi (IANS): He has done a documentary on the spread of Hinduism and Buddhism from India to southeast Asia. Now filmmaker S. Krishnaswamy plans to come out with the second part of Indian Imprints in 2010.

Hundreds of ancient monuments and temples reflecting the impact of ancient India on southeast Asia are presented in the 18-episode documentary serial. It has been filmed in over 100 locations in Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

"We are planning to come out with a second part of the documentary by 2010 that will include more countries including Myanmar," Krishnaswamy told IANS.

"Thirty years ago when I made Indus Valley To Indira Gandhi, I came across facts that stressed upon India's not so well-explored bond with southeast Asia. Indus Valley... didn't have the scope to include those facts, since it was already four hours long. So, I decided to make a different film to go deep into the subject.

"I spoke to a lot of historians. But when we decided to go ahead with this film there was political turmoil in Cambodia. Without Cambodia we thought our documentary will be lacking an essential point, so we waited. Once things smoothed in the country, we took up the topic again," he added.

Krishnaswamy also revealed that one of the many things he got to know after his research was that Hinduism and Buddhism spread in various Asian countries as mutually infused religions.

"Hinduism and Buddhism were exported not as two different religions but as mutually infused in each other, while in a certain region one might be more prominent than the other. In Cambodia, there were periods when people were followers of Shiva and in other periods there were followers of Vishnu. Likewise, there were also followers of Buddha," said the filmmaker.

But why did the documentary include only five countries?

"While India has a relationship with almost all countries in Asia, the maximum impact was noticed in southeast. Also, we had to stop somewhere to lend focus. Thus, we decided to shortlist and zero in on these five countries."

Krishnaswamy has made Indian Imprints under his banner of Krishnaswamy Associates, Chennai. It was funded by state broadcaster Prasar Bharati. The filmmaker was recently given the Padma Shri award.

Apart from that Krishnaswamy has been honoured with national awards four times; he has also received the Watumull Foundation award in Hawaii and the lifetime achievement award at the US International Film and Video Festival, Los Angeles.

Indian Imprints, currently being telecast on Doordarshan's international channel DD India and DD Bharati, was completed in 2007.

Source: The Hindu

BJP's appeal to all Dharma Gurus for support

In addition to freeing temples from the control of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Trust (HR&CE), The BJP has now promised to take the advice of Dharma Gurus. Following is a report.

New Delhi: Shri. Lal Krushna Advani, BJP's candidate for the post of Prime Minister has promised that a committee would be formed to solve problems faced by the country and advice of Dharmagurus and spiritual Gurus would be sought in this connection.

He has, however, tried to strike a balance by stating that there would be establishment of 'Rama-rajya' as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi following the path of secularism.

Advani has written a letter to about 1000 Dharmagurus and spiritual organizations for obtaining support. He has also promised to make efforts towards spread of Hinduism all over the world.

BJP has come out with an independent election manifesto, after 11 years, different from that of National Democratic Front (NDF) to show its spirit of strong Hinduism. He has said that on behalf of the party, special promise is being given to religious organizations.

Advani has stated further that the country has always remained on right path owing to its righteous base and advice given by 'Dharma-Gurus' and 'Spiritual Gurus' in the time of need. Now also there is need for advice from spiritual Guru as there is depression everywhere in the present time of recession. United Progressive Front (UPA) has created an atmosphere of atheism during its regime but NDA, if elected, will bring together religious organizations of all faiths to spread nationalism and spirituality, says the letter. It has been assured that there would not be repetition of issue created due to withdrawal of the land donated for Amarnath pilgrims. Further, priority will be given to the protection of 'Ram-setu', purification of water of rivers including River Ganges.

The ban on cow-slaughter will be strictly implemented. Without referring to Missionary Organizations, it has been mentioned in the letter that there would be strict watch on the financial aid received from outside India by religious institutions. There would be stringent rules to prevent conversions using this aid.

Source:Dainik Sanatan Prabhat