Health is on the mind of nearly everyone these days. There is even a new greeting in the COVID-19 era, “Namastay healthy and safe.” We didn’t plan it this way, but the article in this issue on the healing science of ayurveda takes on special meaning. Explore our 16-page Insight section, written by Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary, to learn how this ancient understanding of human health works, and how you might adopt parts of it in your enhanced-health-consciousness life.
Our publisher, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, takes on another sensitive topic, discussing whether parents of the future will cease sharing their religion with kids. No kidding, it’s a real conversation out there, with young parents asking, “Do we have the right to expect children to follow our faith? Shouldn’t we let them find their own path?” See what the Satguru has to say on this.
Music is a potent force in the world, and India excels in both sophisticated Carnatic music devotional songs and Bollywood lyrics loved around the globe. Join us for the Chennai Music Festival, the world’s most diverse annual music celebration.
Come with our writer Anuradha Goyal as she visits the Sivapoomi Palace in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It is a granite tribute to the masterful Tamil-language works of Saint Manikkavasagar. In this temple/memorial every hymn he wrote is carved into polished black granite. Even though it only opened recently, it is already attracting pilgrims from Sri Lanka and beyond.
Ah, India! How to describe her? We teamed up an aerial photographer and one of India’s greatest travel bloggers to give it a try. The author’s love of Bharat Mata is revealed in a poem to India and her unique gifts. Coupling this with stunning photography from high above, the article says much about a special nation.
Our feature story highlights the priest training school located on the campus of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Ashram in Karnataka state. It’s a charming story, and important to the future of Hinduism. Boys ten to eighteen are being schooled in the sacred temple arts, learning Sanskrit and the Agamas. They are preparing to manage the Hindu temples spread throughout the world. How this happens, what their day is like, what the founders envision is all revealed in Choodie Shivaram’s in-depth piece.
“The Magical Realm of Our Sleep” deals with one of the most rapidly evolving sciences in medicine. Panshula Ganeshan brings in a wide range of voices from ayurveda, Harvard medical experts, epigeneticists and satgurus, giving a rich and rare picture of the nature and purpose (and, yes, the mysteries) of sleep. A full summary of Yoga Nidra is included, along with how the US military has adopted (and rebranded) the yogic techniques to train soldiers to sleep under the most difficult, even battlefield, conditions.
There is more, of course, including the popular Quotes & Quips section with humor, cartoons and pithy sayings, Global Dharma with mini-stories from around the world, and Digital Dharma, which goes to WikiHow this month to lean how one properly becomes a Hindu. It’s a rich issue, with something for everyone.
