USPS FOREVER STAMP HONORS THE HINDU FESTIVAL DIWALI. In an act that showcases America's religious harmony and cultural equality, the U.S. Postal Service will be issuing a special “Diwali Forever” stamp to commemorate the Hindu festival of Diwali. America has a sizable number of Hindus, Sikhs and adherents of other Indian religions. Diwali being a festival common to all of them, the Postal Department saw it as apt to issue stamps that would be representative of the nation's participation in the celebrations of the communities.

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HISTORY OF VARALAKSHMI VRATAM, THE FESTIVAL HONORING HINDU GOD LAKSHMI. Varalakshmi Vratam is a Hindu festival honoring the goddess Lakshmi, the wife of Lord Vishnu. What makes this celebration much more important for Hindus is the observance of the Varalakshmi Pooja (ritual) which is believed to be auspicious. Hindus believed that requests and wishes can be granted if the pooja is performed. From the time the festivity was created, it is the Hindi women, particularly the wives and mothers, who observe and perform the rituals. Most women perform the Varalakshmi Vratam asking for...

Four Hindu priests sat cross-legged on the floor in front of silver trays of rice, flowers and vermillion powder, chanting in low baritones that reverberated off the bare walls of the old brick temple.An iPhone propped on a chair captured the service — known as a puja — and beamed it via Skype to a home in San Francisco, where a middle-aged woman wearing a red bindi and a head scarf watched intently.Every so often, the priests peered into the screen and instructed her to mimic a gesture or repeat an invocation.

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Baba Ramdev has emerged as the leader of the “Baba Cool Movement” — a group of spiritual men who are marketing health-based products based on the ancient Indian medicinal system.

Source: A Yoga Master, the King of ‘Baba Cool,’ Stretches Out an Empire - The New York Times