Presentation of the International Edition of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism to the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee

(photo from indiaeducationdiary.in)

To celebrate decades of work done by thousands of scholars, historians, curators, professors, and various other experts, Mandala Publishing and The India Heritage Research Foundation presented the beautiful 11-volume international edition of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism to President Mukherjee today, June 23, 2014, with approximately 500 esteemed guests and dignitaries in attendance.

The guests included Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji; Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Pachauri; Raoul Goff, Mandala Publications CEO and Publisher; Vandana Shiva; Shri L.K. Advani, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); Dr. Karan Singh, Chairman, Auroville Foundation; Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director General, TERI; and Father Anil Jose Tomas Couto, Archbishop of Delhi, among many others. 

During his speech, the President focused on the search for truth prevalent in Hinduism. In the search for truth, the Encyclopedia of Hinduism, the most comprehensive collection to date on this most ancient of religions and cultures, is sure to take its place as the definitive resource for both scholars and the general population. Read more about the presentation at India Education Diary, linked here: India Education Diary: President of India receives a copy of Encyclopedia of Hinduism

Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, founder/chairman of the India Heritage Research Foundation and of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism project, explains:

"The wisdom, truths, teachings, and insights of Indian and Hindu culture are not limited to or applicable to only Hindus or Indians. Rather they belong to the world and can deeply benefit the world. It is, therefore, our aim that the richness of this ancient yet timeless culture and heritage should be made available to the entire world, in a way that is authentic, academic, comprehensive and illuminating. However, of course, the teachings, truths, tenets and insights of Sanatan Dharma took birth in India. Therefore, to have the religious leaders of India present the Encyclopedia to the Honourable President is a beautiful and most-fitting symbol of the 'Unity in Diversity' which is our Mother India."

To learn more about the Encyclopedia of Hinduism, please go to www.theencycloopediaofhinduism.com. 

Q&A with Joshua M. Greene

Joshua M. Greene teaches Hinduism at Hofstra University. The author of several children’s books of stories from India, including Kaliya, Serpent King and Krishna and the Mystery of the Stolen Calves, his latest book, The Littlest Giant: The Story of Vamana, was released on March 18, 2014.

1. Tell us a little about your background as a storyteller, a student, and now a teacher. 
I was raised by my mom, who had been an actress, so I’m sure that was an early influence. In the '60s, my career path was journalism, and when I met my spiritual teacher Prabhupada in 1970, he encouraged me to publish children’s books. I took that as a life’s mission.

2. When did you start writing stories for children and what inspired you do so? 
During my first trip to India, in 1971, I did not speak a word of Hindi or Braj—the local language in Krishna’s village Vrindavan. But I met an old man who told stories by using a Pichwai painting, a series of images on a five-foot-square silk cloth. Imagine a graphic novel laid out on a single sheet. What I didn’t understand in words came clear in those images. Ever since, I have taught using lots of visuals and graphics.

3. How long have you been teaching bhakti yoga, and how would you describe your practice? 
Prabhupada encouraged his students to teach from the beginning of their devotional life. Whatever we learned each day, he wanted us to pass on to others. But how well you teach depends on how well you listen. So I guess I would describe my practice as listening, giving others full attention, and servicing them without expectation of return. Bhakti is highly personal in that way.

4. You’ve written an impressive number of both adult, including Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison and Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text, and children’s books. What have you found rewarding about both experiences? 
My adult books are mostly biographies of people who followed a path to enlightenment. Some paths are darker than others, for example the Holocaust survivors in Witness: Voices from the Holocaust or the Alabama lawyer who prosecuted Hitler’s henchmen in Justice at Dachau. Other paths are filled with light, such as Mr. Harrison’s. What turns me on is finding out what makes people go past their limits to do things they never thought themselves capable of doing.

5. Do you believe books can help shape a child’s character? In what way? 
I don’t think so. Shaping a child’s character is the privilege of sensitive care-givers. Books can assist as tools of informed, loving child-rearing. What a book can do is to be a child’s best friend when grown-ups can’t.

6. You’ve adapted a number of stories from ancient Indian texts into children’s books. How do make otherwise esoteric subjects accessible and relevant to children today?
We need to examine our own reactions to “ancient” stories. If we judge these stories to be myths, fictions, something “long ago and far away,” then I doubt we can make them relevant. On the other hand, if we respect the stories and their characters as real people, and if we go deep inside the stories to find the kernel of truth which transcends time, then maybe we can tell that story in a meaningful way to young people today.

7. What’s on the horizon for you? 
A biography of my teacher Prabhupada, more books for children, and greater attention to my own devotional practice.

eBooks available from Mandala Publishing and Earth Aware Editions

Relationships that Work: The Power of Conscious Living by David B. Wolf Applying the strategies of conscious living described in these pages will connect you with the courage, inspiration, and wisdom to create profound change in yourself and your environment. Download the iBook  Purchase the Kindle Version Pick up the Paperback Edition The Little Book of Changes: A Pocket I Ching by Peter Crisp The Little Book of Changesis a fresh interpretation of the I Ching, one of the oldest books in the world, recognized by both Confucians and Taoists as a fundamental work. Download the iBook Purchase the Paperback Edition Behind the Dolphin Smile: One Man's Campaign to Protect the World's Dolphins by Richard O'Barry Share and rejoice in O'Barry's adventures, fromFlipper to The Cove, and discover how the one-time pride of the billion-dollar captivity industry became the tireless dolphin advocate we know and love today. Download the iBook  Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Paperback Edition

Manu's Ark: India's Tale of the Great Flood by Emma V. Moore From ancient India comes this Eastern story of the Great Flood, lushly illustrated and retold for children. Download the iBook Purchase the Hardcover Edition Ramayana: A Tale of Gods and Demons   by Ranchor Prime Illustrations by B.G. Sharma Rama, the king of Ayodya, comes to life through B.G. Sharma's never-before-seen compositions of this classic epic. Download the iBook Purchase the Paperback Edition Hector by Steve Barnes Beautifully illustrated in rich watercolors, this poignant story underscores the values of forgiveness and respect for differences. Download the iBook  Purchase the Hardcover Edition

Minding Your Business: Profits that Restore the Planet by Horst Rechelbacher  Foreword by Paul Hawken  Rechelbacher contends that the biggest business opportunities for the next century will come from practicing environmentally sound, sustainable business that is in harmony with the rhythms of the natural world. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Hardcover Edition The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami by Radhanath Swami  The Journey Home is an intimate account of the steps to self-awareness and also a penetrating glimpse into the heart of mystic traditions and the challenges that all souls must face on the road to inner harmony and a union with the Divine. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Paperback Edition Tactics of Hope: How Social Entrepreneurs Are Changing Our World by Wilford Welch Foreword by Desmond Tutu Addressing a perceived lack of public policy, this inspirational book profiles the heroic deeds of 30 socially conscious players on the world stage. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Hardcover Edition

Myths of the Asanas: The Stories at the Heart of the Yoga Tradition by Alanna Kaivalya & Arjen van der Kooij Behind each asana and its corresponding movements is an ancient story about a god, a sage, or sacred animal, much like Aesop's fables or European folktales. Myths of the Asanas is the first book to compile and re-tell these ancient stories. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Paperback Edition Rumi's Tales from the Silk Road: A Pilgrimage to Paradise by Kamla K. Kapur Inspired by Rumi, Kamla K. Kapur's Pilgrimage to Paradise is a reworking of the translations of thirty of his stories - tales of wit, wisdom, and faith. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Hardcover Edition Yoga and Vegetarianism: The Path to Greater Health and Happiness by Sharon Gannon Drawing upon her studies of Vedic traditions, Sharon Gannon explores how the physical and spiritual practice of Yoga is historically and structurally tied to a vegetarian lifestyle. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Paperback Edition

Ganesha Goes to Lunch: Classics from Mystic India by Kamla K. Kapur Kamla K. Kapur brings her poet's eye and ear to the retelling of these classic stories, re-creating and dramatizing them to illuminate their relevance to modern times. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Paperback Edition Light on Death: The Spiritual Art of Dying by Phillip Jones Light on Death reveals a complementary Eastern view on navigating the end of life: the spiritual art of dying, in which death is seen as the last and most powerful rite of passage. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Hardcover Edition Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India's Essential Yoga Text by Joshua M. Greene Joshua M. Greene has taken one of the most venerable and revered texts of all times, theBhagavad Gita, and presented it in a completely new way. Download the iBook Buy the Kindle Version Purchase the Paperback Edition

In Search of the Thunder Dragon by Sophie Shrestha Illustrations by Romio Shrestha In Search of the Thunder Dragon brings to life the beauty and traditions of Bhutan in the ancient story of the Thunder Dragons that play hide-and-seek in the clouds during big winter storms. Download the iBook Purchase the Hardcover Edition The Birth of Kirtan: The Life & Teachings of Chaitanya by Ranchor Prime Foreword by Shiva Rea The Birth of Kirtan: The Life and Teachings of Chaitanyais the biography of a mystic saint who pioneered devotional yoga (Bhakti) in sixteenth-century India and started the practice of sacred chanting (kirtan) that has now spread around the world. Download the iBook Purchase the Hardcover Edition Kaliya: Serpent King by Joshua M. Greene Illustrations by Patrick Wire This tale from India's ancient Sanskrit wisdom texts transcends its moment in remote history to deliver a message as relevant as today's news. Download the iBook Purchase the Hardcover Edition

Agha: The Eight-Mile Monster by Karen Wilson-Timmons  Illustrations by Marie Therese Dubois  In this acclaimed retelling of a story from India's ancient Bhagavata Purana, children emerge victorious over a serpent that haunts the landscape of childhood. Download the iBook  Purchase the Hardcover Edition Also available from iTunes: The Peaceable Forest

Help save the Yamuna River

About the Yamuna

The Yamuna flows through many of India’s most significant attractions, including the capital New Delhi, with a population of almost fourteen million; Vrindavan, an international pilgrimage site visited by tens of millions annually; and the Taj Mahal, a World Heritage site and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Over fifty million people rely on the Yamuna for their daily needs, using the water for religious observances, agricultural needs, and bathing, washing, and cooking. In addition to benefiting the human population, the Yamuna has supported a vast ecosystem of wildlife, such as fish, turtles, crocodiles, river dolphins, and aquatic plants.

Aside from agricultural, ecological, and domestic uses, the Yamuna River has long been regarded as a cultural icon and defining symbol of India. Ancient scriptures, traditional and contemporary art, music, festivals, and even the Indian National Anthem, demonstrate the reverence in which the river is held.

Basic Facts

• The Yamuna River is the largest tributary of the Ganges River, with a catchment area (345,848 sq km / 133,533 sq m) that constitutes 40 percent of the total Ganga River Basin.
• The river is 1,376 km (855 miles) long and passes through seven Indian states.
• The Yamuna is water source for 57 million people.
• 97 percent of the river’s water is directed away from the riverbed not far from its source. The balance dries up within a few kilometers. None of the original river water flows beyond that point north of Delhi.
• Whatever little water reaches New Delhi does so through various canals entering the riverbed. A Central Pollution Control Board of India report in 2006 stated that there is “almost no fresh water in the river” beyond New Delhi. The report declared that for 580 km (360 m) south of Delhi, the river is “critically polluted.” A subsequent report in 2009 states that, “There is no doubt that the river is a cesspool for Delhi’s waste.”
• The levels of pollution in the water flowing through and out of Delhi are so high that even bathing in the water is dangerous. The water from the river is also replenishing groundwater in the area, resulting in highly polluted well water, which threatens the health of millions of people.
• Many accounts of severe illness and death have been attributed to the toxic state of the river’s water quality downstream of New Delhi.

You can help by joining the Yamuna Network's efforts. Follow them on Facebook and learn more at their website, www.yamunanetwork.com.

The Yamuna Network is a nonprofit coalition of like-minded organizations and individuals whose sole purpose is to stop Yamuna River's waters from being diverted and prevent industrial and municipal waste from entering her waters, restoring the river to her past glory.