PARLIAMENT OF THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS IS A FRAUD. IT IS NO WONDER ITS HINDU TRUSTEES RESIGNED PROMPTLY FOR ITS STAND AGAINST VIVEKANANDA'S SESQUICENTENNIAL BIRTH CELEBRATION BY HINDUS

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=W8F2K9Eg_U0&feature=youtu.be

Hindu Press International

A daily news summary for news media, educators, researchers, writers and religious leaders worldwide, courtesy of Hinduism Today magazine's editorial staff

World's Religions Parliament Withdraws from VHP of America's Program Honoring Swami Vivekananda
After 86 Days, Prayers Resume At Kedarnath Temple
Altare, "Capital" of the Hindus of Italy
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World's Religions Parliament Withdraws from VHP of America's Program Honoring Swami Vivekananda

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CHICAGO, USA, September 13, 2013 (TCN): (HPI Note: This startling turn of events was announced on twocircles.net, a website reporting on issues of concern to Muslims in India. The withdrawal was done without consulting the Hindu members of the Parliament's board of directors.) 

American branch of right-wing Hindutva group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) suffered a major setback today when a respectable interfaith organization the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR) decided to withdraw from the event that VHPA was organizing in Chicago. 

VHPA is holding event marking 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanda which will feature Baba Ramdev as the chief guest (see here). It is "co-hosted" by many Hindu organizations based in the USA. Air India is also listed as one of the co-host. 
120-year old CPWR is the organization that invited Swami Vivekanda to Chicago in1893. In a statement issued today [see here, issued by Mary Nelson, CPWR's Executive Director] CPWR said: 

"We honor Swami Vivekananda and that legacy he left creating interfaith cooperation to build a just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Our organization was not informed that an event we were asked to co-sponsor was also co-sponsored by organizations promoting controversial political positions. While we do honor and promote the ideals of Swami Vivekananda, we respectfully withdraw our name from any co-hosting or co-sponsorship of the 'World Without Borders' event and any connection to this event or its other co-sponsors." 

Coalition Against Genocide (CAG) [see here for a list of members--it is mostly comprised of Muslim, leftist and Christian groups] has welcome the move by the CPWR to disassociate itself VHPA's event. "Hindutva extremists are exploiting Swami Vivekananda's name to surreptitiously gain credibility and respectability in the US. On the one hand the VHP is fanning the flames of currently raging sectarian violence in Muzaffarnagar in India through virulent anti-minority propaganda and on the other its followers in the US are trying to project Hindu supremacist ideology of Hindutva as pluralistic," said Dr. Shaik Ubaid, a spokesperson for CAG.

"This incident exemplifies attempts by Hindutva organizations to legitimize their virulent politics by appropriating the legacies of important historical personalities such as Swami Vivekananda," said Dr. Raja Swamy, also a CAG spokesperson . "These have gone largely unnoticed and unchallenged until now mostly due to the general lack of understanding on the part of US institutions of the divisive and violent agenda of Hindutva groups in India," Dr. Swamy added. 
    
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After 86 Days, Prayers Resume At Kedarnath Temple

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INDIA, September 12, 2013 (ddinews): The deathly silence brooding over Kedarnath since the June calamity hit Uttarakhand broke early Wednesday morning by the chanting of Vedic hymns as prayers resumed at the Himalayan shrine, 86 days after ravaging floods left over 400 people dead in the Kedar valley. 

Shortly after the dawn, as the clock stuck seven, the chief priest of the 6th century shrine, Rawal Bhima Shankar Ling Shivacharya, unlocked the portals of the temple and stepped into the sanctum-sanctorum to perform the puja. The prayers commenced today on Sarwartha Siddi Yog, considered to be auspicious. 

The Puja began with a shuddhikaran (purification) of the temple and prayashchitikaran (atonement for prolonged suspension of prayers at the shrine). The chief priest was accompanied by a large number of teeth purohits and Badrinath Kedarnath Samiti officials. The shrine reverberated with the collective recitals of Vedic hymns and blowing of conch shells. 

However, the resumption of prayers at the 13,500 ft-high shrine is of limited nature, as no pilgrim is being allowed right now to visit the temple [because the access trail was so heavily damaged]. A meeting is scheduled to be held on September 30 to decide the date for resumption of Yatra to the famed Himalayan temple. 
    
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Altare, "Capital" of the Hindus of Italy

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ITALY, September 9, 2013 (La Stampa by Luca Maragliano): A corner of India is very close to Altare. That's the impression that you had yesterday, along the stretch of road that leads from the village in the locality Pellegrino, where stands the Gitananda Ashram; the most famous Hindu monastery of Italy and Europe. Yesterday the Ashram hosted the annual festival dedicated to the God Ganesh, the anniversary most heartfelt and loved by all Hindus, not only in India but all over the world. The event this year also received the patronage of the Region, the Province and the Municipality of Altare. 

And the faithful pilgrims were more than a thousand, as planned by the organizers, from all over the North of Italy that began arriving at the place of worship nestled in the woods, from the early hours of the morning: thirteen coaches, from Milan, Vicenza, Modena and many other cities, and parked in the parking lot of Vispa, not to mention the dozens and dozens of cars and campers parked along the road. "We are delighted to be here together today to celebrate Ganesh," said Swami Yogananda Giri, founder and spiritual leader of the temple - "and we thank the communities that have come to share with us this day." 

So many nationalities, in fact, were represented yesterday (such as those in Sri Lanka and Mauritius, that in the morning they received the telephone greetings from the Minister for Integration Cecile Kyenge. "I am pleased to greet all those present at the monastery" - Minister Kyenge said in his speech, "and take this occasion also to remember the recent agreement between the State and the Italian Hindu Union, because I believe that in Europe today there is another community that has yet to receive such recognition. A victory of all institutions. " 

Founded in 1984 as a place of prayer and study of the Hindu tradition, the Ashram of Altare has slowly grown until arriving today to be considered one of the largest in Europe. 


    
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Daily Inspiration

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To say "through silence He is realized" is not correct, because Supreme Knowledge does not come "through" anything. Supreme Knowledge reveals Itself. 
-- Anandamayi Ma
    
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Parliament of the World's Religions Rejects Hindu Celebration of Swami Vivekananda:  Hindu Trustees Resign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8F2K9Eg_U0&feature=youtu.be Philadelphia, PA (September 23, 2013) -- Rejecting a request from a coalition of over three hundred North American Hindu spiritual leaders, organizations, community leaders, and lay people, the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR) refused yesterday to join Hindus in Chicago to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The CPWR originally planned on being a co-sponsor of the celebration set for September 28, 2013, but then withdrew suddenly after receiving a complaint from an online based anti-Hindu group. The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) coordinated a letterrequesting the CPWR to change course as local organizers worked towards reaching a compromise with CPWR, but the Parliament rejected the final requests late last night, prompting the only two Hindu members of the Parliament Board of Trustees to resign in protest today.  "At HAF, we are saddened that the Parliament, created in the very name of Swami Vivekananda, turned its back on the Hindu community and drew its own fault lines defining politics and religion," said Suhag Shukla, HAF's Executive Director. "The CPWR has decided to define political organizations arbitrarily, and must now take a hard look at every organization it has partnered with and that its trustees are associated with or represent."   Shukla suggested that the CPWR immediately examine the ties Shaik Ubaid--the Muslim activist who claimed credit for forcing the Parliament to dissociate from the Chicago Hindu community in several Muslim media outlets-- maintains within the Parliament leadership. Ubaid works closely with the CPWR Chairman of the Board, Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, having co-founded a number of organizations and worked together in others.  In a major setback to the Parliament Board of Trustees, the only two Hindu trustees of the Parliament, Professor Anant Rambachan, Chair of the Department of Religion at St. Olaf's College, and Ms. Anju Bhargava, Founder of Hindu American Seva Charities, resigned immediately after CPWR confirmed its unilateral decision to disengage from the community celebration.  "The decision to withdraw, made without consulting either one of us, has caused hurt and great disappointment across the Hindu world and especially here in the United States," wrote Rambachan and Bhargava, in a letter released earlier today. "In spite of claiming neutrality, the Board chose to be influenced in its decision by giving credibility to complainants against its participation in the event and by showing no interest in considering or deliberating on the Hindu responses received."  But while the CPWR boasted of a unanimous approval of its decision to refuse reversal, the resigning trustees also wrote, "We wish to clarify also that we did not participate in the Board meeting on September 24, 2013 when the Board approved its recently released resolution. For us, the heart of the matter is the Board's unwillingness to consider any form of participation."  "To completely ignore issues of fairness, transparency, and mutual respect raised by the Hindu community at large and the condescending tone of the announcement should call into question the Parliament's ability to be a global leader in the interfaith movement," said Mr. Pawan Deshpande, a member of HAF's Executive Council. "Nonetheless, the silver lining in all of this is that it has brought together so many Hindus, across a broad spectrum of religious, cultural, and political backgrounds, to voice our collective concern."