Promod Puri

SEEKING EVOLUTION IN RELIGIONS

Rituals, customs, and traditions provide bulk and mostly false identity to a religion. If these are detached from all the religions, then we can see fundamentals of moral and righteous teachings are the same in each of them. Pathways to divinity are infused with words of morality and ethics, principles, and noble deeds. Many…

Tradition Of Langar In Sikhism

Langar is one of the most sacred and important aspects of Sikhism. The word langar simply means community eating place in Gurudwara (Sikh temple) where free food is served to all devotees and visitors without distinction of religion, caste, gender, economic status, or ethnicity. The free meal is always vegetarian. People sit on the floor,…

Ancient Hindu Scripts On Birch Bark Saved By My Grandfather At Chandigarh DAV College

By Purva Grover Khaleej Times, Dubai As a child, I didn’t know that my maternal grandpa was a scholar. He was a doctor — I knew that — from the black nameplate that hung outside the door — Dr Krishan Dhavan. But what kind of doctor, I was unsure of. Doctors wear stethoscopes, right? He…

Hinduism Thrives In Its Open Structure

by Promod Puri Hinduism is a wide-open structure. It is an abode where believers in God, atheists, and ethicists can comfortably reside together and share their knowledge, beliefs, and experiences for the betterment of humanity and its environments. Hinduism evolves by itself in its conflicting, contradicting, and controversial framework. In its spacious design and architecture,…

WHAT’S SPACE

Pexels, CC BY Emily Thomas, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Durham University Mountains. Whales. The distant stars. All these things exist in space, and so do we. Our bodies take up a certain amount of space. When we walk to work, we are moving through space. But what is space? Is it even an actual, physical entity? In…

WHY IDOL WORSHIPPING IN HINDUISM

One of the most outstanding and contemplating icons of Hinduism is the worship of murtis (idols). The Divine Spirit is perceived in an image. In this perceptive role murtis are an integral part of Hindu institutions and traditions. In its colorful and expressive craftsmanship, a murti is an adorable symbol of identity in Hindu…

DIWALI MUBARAK

DIWALI MUBARAK is my choice of greetings on the happy occasion of Diwali, the universal festival of lights. In the picture Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau lighting the traditional Diwali lamp along with India’s High Commissioner Vikas Swarup and members of the Indo-Canadian community in Ottawa October 16, 2017. The prime minister in his…

Kerala Hindu Temples Recruit Non-Brahmins & Dalits As Priests

For the first time in the history, the Travancore Devaswom (temple) recruitment board has recommended to appoint 36 non-Brahmins, including six Dalits, as priests. The Travancore Devaswom Board came into existence in 1949 and the demand for reservation for Dalits in appointment of priests has been persisting for several decades. Travancore Devaswom Board is an autonomous…