Trinidad's Dattatreya Yoga Center (news coverage)

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May 25, 2003

 

Today's Stories:

1. Top Barrister Preeta Bansal New Member of the U.S. Commission on

International Religious Freedom

2. SARS Outbreak Indefinitely Postpones Mansarovar Yatra

3. Trinidad's Dattatreya Yoga Center

4. Swami Chinmayananda is New Minister of State for Home Affairs

5. Pushpagiri Math at Tirumala

6. Connaught Place Hanuman Temple Gets Protected Status

 

1. Top Barrister Preeta Bansal New Member of the U.S. Commission on

International Religious Freedom

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030525/asp/nation/story_2002851.asp

 

WASHINGTON D.C., U.S.A., May 24, 2003: Persistent lobbying by

Hindu-Americans, especially after last year's violence in Gujarat, to

have an Indian-American on the US statutory commission which oversees

religious freedom worldwide has paid off. Preeta Bansal, who was

earlier solicitor-general of New York and a White House counsel in the

Clinton administration, was last night nominated to the US Commission

on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), sources on Capitol Hill

said. She will be the nominee of Senator Tom Daschle, the leader of the

Democrats in the Senate. The USCIRF is made up of nominees by the US

President, the speaker of the House of Representatives and leaders of

both the Democrats and the Republicans in the House and the Senate.

 

The Commission has carried on a virulent campaign against India after

last year's violence in Gujarat, blatantly colluding, in the opinion of

many Hindu observers, with right-wing Christian organizations in

America to hold hearings on Gujarat and put immense pressure on the US

state department to declare India a "country of particular concern"

(CPC) for its record in upholding religious freedom and minority

religious rights. It is the same category assigned to totalitarian

states such as Iran and hardly applicable to a country with India's

thousands of years of religious freedom. CPCs in religious terms are

the equivalent in terrorist terms of the list of "other terrorist

groups" prepared by the state department annually before such

organizations are listed formally as "foreign terrorist organizations"

and penalized.

 

The USCIRF has no powers of its own, but it advises both the White

House and the Congress on the state of global religious freedom. Even

though its recommendations are regularly ignored by the State

Department, it has a lot of nuisance value and can be a tool for

propaganda, as it happened after the Gujarat violence. Hindu-Americans

have always questioned the commission's credibility since it has never

had an Indian or a Hindu among its members. American Sikhs have also

been critical of the body. Its members so far have included

representatives of Jews, Baha'is, Muslims and various Christian

denominations.

 

Bansal, an highly respected expert on constitutional law, was born in

Roorkee and arrived in the U.S. with her parents at the age of three.

She is a graduate of the Harvard Law School. Last night, Indian

Christian organizations in the U.S. were guarded in their reaction to

Bansal's appointment. Jayachand Pallakonda, president of the Federation

of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA)

said: "I am very impressed with Ms Bansal's law background... I hope Ms

Bansal also has a good understanding of the religious issues

confronting South Asia especially India."

 

As New York Solicitor General, Ms. Bansal oversaw a staff of six

hundred lawyers in the Department of Law, and directly supervised

forty-five lawyers in the Solicitor General's Office who handle appeals

for the State of New York and its agencies in state and federal courts.

She argued regularly in the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate

courts on behalf of New York State.

 

She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa of Harvard-Radcliffe

College, and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. She was

Supervising Editor of the Harvard Law Review. She served as a law clerk

to Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court

(1990-1991) and to Chief Judge James L. Oakes of the United States

Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1989-1990). Prior to her

appointment as New York Solicitor General, Ms. Bansal practiced law

with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in New York City (1996-1999), and

previously with Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. She also served in

the Clinton Administration (1993-1996) as counselor to Assistant

Attorney General Joel Klein in the United States Department of Justice

(Antitrust Division), and as Special Counsel in the Office of the White

House Counsel. She is broadly interested in empowering South Asian

Americans to serve their local communities in a variety of ways

throughout the United States.

 

2. SARS Outbreak Indefinitely Postpones Mansarovar Yatra

Times of India

 

NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 24, 2003: It has been officially announced that

the Kailash Mansarovar yatra has been postponed indefinitely due to the

closure of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). The Indian government

was informed by the Chinese authorities that they were not allowing any

tourists into the TAR in an effort to keep the area SARS free.

Therefore, the yatra which passes through the Lipulekh pass, has been

postponed till the Chinese government opens up the route. Normally, the

yatra begins in mid-June and continues till September with

approximately 14 groups of pilgrims being sent every week. Announcing

the postponement of the yatra, the external affairs ministry said on

Thursday that the draw for the selection of yatris was also being

postponed. The draw would be held once there was confirmation of the

yatra and the number of batches and the yatris would be adjusted

according to the amount of delay.

 

3. Trinidad's Dattatreya Yoga Center

http://www.dyc-tt.org/

 

FREEPORT, TRINIDAD, May 25, 2003: Trinidad's Dattatreya Yoga Center is

currently undergoing a massive renovation, as reported in yesterday's

HPI. H.H. Sri Ganapati Sachidananda Swami of Mysore, India, head of the

yoga center will be attending the June inauguration ceremonies. In

front of Sri Swami's residence, a small Karyasiddhi Hanuman under a

mandapam has been constructed. Less than 200 feet away is the gigantic

form of Lord Hanuman, 80 feet tall. The existing prayer hall is being

renovated in traditional south Indian Temple architecture. The Datta

temple, Devi Temple, Ganapati temple and Siva temple are being newly

built with traditional temple towers and a front welcome tower. Twenty

artisans from South India have been in Trinidad for the last two years

working on this project. A detailed schedule of the events is available

at "source" above along with photos of the temple construction.

 

4. Swami Chinmayananda is New Minister of State for Home Affairs

HPI

 

NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 25, 2003: Yesterday Swami Chinmayananda, a

sannyasin or Hindu monk, was taken into the Vajpayee Government as

Minister of State for Home Affairs. Swami has the distinction of being

the only saint in the Vajpayee government at the moment and as minister

of state for Home Affairs, he will report directly to L.K. Advani.

 

5. Pushpagiri Math at Tirumala

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/stories/2003052301580700.htm

 

PUSHPAGIRI, INDIA, May 24, 2003: Head of Pushpagiri Peedam, His

Holiness Vidya Nrusimha Bharathi Swami, has been working to spread

Vedic dharma, moral values and virtues in the people of Andhra Pradesh.

The Pushpagiri Mahasamsthanam has now constructed the Pushpagiri Mutt

(monastery) at Tirumala on a piece of land given by the Tirumala

Tirupati Devasthanam at Medarmetta, Ring Road, for the convenience of

devotees for performing marriages, upanayanams (sacred thread ceremony)

and other religious functions, and including accommodation. This mutt

was inaugurated by His Holiness Sri Madabhi Navoddanda Sri Nrusimha

Bharathi Swamiji. The Pushpagiri Mutt is also planning to take up

construction of similar mutts for the convenience of devotees at Sri

Kalahasti, Sri Gyana Saraswathi Temple, Basar, Sri Thiruchanur

Alamelumangapuram and Tenali within the next one year. Besides these

projects, reconstruction and modernization will be undertaken at

Pushpagiri, the abode of Pushpagiri Peedam in Cuddapah district.

 

6. Connaught Place Hanuman Temple Gets Protected Status

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/230503/detCIT14.shtml

 

NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 22, 2003: The Archaeological Survey of India

(ASI) on Thursday issued a notification to declare the Hanuman temple

in Connaught Place a protected monument. Some other ancient temples in

Delhi and other states may also be extended ASI's protection as part of

a campaign launched by Tourism and Culture Minister Jagmohan to improve

conditions in and around important religious shrines and pilgrimage

spots. In a letter to the ASI director-general, Jagmohan said: "The

Hanuman temple in New Delhi is an ancient monument which is visited by

hundreds of people daily. Like the Kalkaji Temple, its antiquity is

being ruined and its sanctity undermined. After visiting the site, I

have decided that, as in the case of Kalkaji Temple complex, this

temple should also be protected under the Ancient Monuments and

Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958," he wrote. After allowing

two months for the public to register objections to the move, the

archaeological body will issue a final notification.

 

 

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