Now Shrine workers can keep their underwear on

Employees counting donations at the Sabarimala hill Hindu shrine in Kerala state of India shall no longer have to take off their underpants at work after the local human rights commission intervened.

Earlier temple authorities had imposed the dress code at the shrine five years ago after thefts were reported from the shrine's strongroom.

Employees in the vault, all of whom were men, were made to work topless wearing only a dhoti -- a cotton wrap worn around the waist -- with nothing underneath. Read more...............................Indian shrine workers to keep their underwear on

Get Weird India Updates by e-mail

Fear Factor in Devotees mind make them Offerings in a Shrine

If you are using Internet & Email for quite some time then you must have received so many Chain Mails in your life time. Many of these Chain Mails might have invoked you to make some wishes before forwarding those "Ganesh Vandana", "Tirupathi Balaji" pics etc...etc. & at the end of that chain mail here below notice might have been there...........

IMPORTANT NOTE:

If you do not send this e-mail to at least 12 people in the next 10 seconds............... guess what could happen?? & due to fear in your mind due to that warning, you might have forwarded that email to exactly 12 of your friends & so have done your friends too in turn & hence due to that fear factor in your mind that Chain Mail might have traveled across the Globe many times.

O.K. that is Internet & all together a different domain than one's real life. But what if something similar happens in real life. Yes exactly that happened in Kashmir Valley in India when hundreds of couples offered rice and money at a shrine here following rumors that a Sufi saint had asked all couples with a lone son to donate generously.

The story spread across the Kashmir Valley was that Ahad Sahib, a popular Sufi saint from north Kashmir's Sopore town, had a dream and asked all parents who had a lone son to offer rice and money at the shrine of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani, known as Dastgeer Sahib, situated in Khanyar locality of Srinagar city.

To add to it, the rumor also had it that unless the offerings were made immediately, the couple would soon come to grief.

Hundreds of of people took the warning seriously, thronging the shrine with offerings of rice and money. The devotees who landed up Dastgeer Sahib included educated Kashmiris as well as peasants from the countryside.

'It's alright even if it was a rumor. There is no harm in making the offering,' said Sheikh Bilal, an agricultural scientist who had come from Ganderbal district to make an offering at the shrine.

The shrine management engaged additional staff to cope with the rush of devotees.

'I heard the news in the afternoon. I hired a taxi as my wife was keen to make the offering today itself,' said Abdul Salam Wani, 56, who came all the way from Kokernag town in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Though by evening there were reports that the saint denied asking people to make offerings, the crowd at the shrine continued to swell. At the day's end, the shrine had received hundreds of quintals of rice and millions of rupees.

'Faith doesn't allow any chances to be taken. It hardly matters now whether the news was a fact or a rumor. I have made the offerings,' said Manzoor Ahmad Gora, another agricultural scientist here.

Link

Get Weird India Updates by e-mail

God has disappeared

Amarnath is one of the most famous of Hindu shrines / temples. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva & is located in Jammu and Kashmir state of India. It is said that this temple is around 5000 years old. Every year about 400,000 people visit the temple during the 45 day season around the festival of Shravani Mela in July-August, coinciding with the Hindu holy month of Shravan. It is located in the mountains of Himalayas & inside the Amarnath Cave lies the ice Shiva Lingam, a natural formation of an ice stalagmite in the form of lingam.

This year the annual pilgrimage to Amarnath commenced on First of July with nearly 13000 devotees leaving for the cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas. But to the disappointment of the devotees, the naturally-formed ice Shiva lingam at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in Jammu and Kashmir has completely melted. It is said that stalagmite that is worshipped as a Hindu god has melted away because of the body heat of thousands of people visiting it.

The CEO of the Amarnath Shrine Board, Arun Kumar has also confirmed that main shivling at Amarnath has melted away.

Is it the result of Global Warming or due to the body heat of thousands of people visiting it? May be its a result of both or else God is annoyed with the devotees / humanity & has disappeared just before the pilgrimage has started!!!

Why it disappeared?

As per on Star News TV report today, in the month of April -May much before the annual pilgrimage to Amarnath yatra / pilgrimage began, many Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), jawans / personnel, visited the Ice Lingam / Stalagmite & in the religious fervor went near to it, touched it, hugged it & even lighted Diyas ( Diya is a contracted form of deep or light given by small earthen pots, with wick made of cotton and dipped in ghee) just below the Ice Lingam / Stalagmite.

It is also learnt that around 55,000 people have visited the shrine much before the annual pilgrimage to Amarnath yatra began.

It is quite evident that heat of Diyas & the activities of hugging etc. of CRPF, jawans / personnel might have caused the melting of Ice Lingam / Stalagmite. Such acts of CRPF personnel are not as per the rules of the shrine board as board does not allow any person to go near the Lingam, touch it, hug it or light any flammable object near it which can cause harm to it. Such acts of CRPF personnel need to be investigated so that it cannot cause injury to the faith of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who devotedly visit it every year.

It also needs to be investigated how "Amarnath Shrine Board" has allowed these CRPF personnel & other people to visit the shrine before the annual pilgrimage started.

Get Weird India Updates by e-mail

Indian Pop Star appears in Burqa

Himesh Reshammiya, is an Indian Pop Star who also composes Bollywood music & has given 36 hit songs in one year. Recently he has also appeared in his first film, " Aap Ka Suroor" which released today to the audiences.

It seems that to get publicity for his first film he has apparently caused a furor after dressing in black burqa while visiting a Muslim Shrine.

As per Reshammiya, he dressed in burqa to avoid being mobbed by his fans, while seeking blessing for his new film.

Although an official at said shrine suggested that Reshammiya dress in the burqa, the president of the shrine, Peerzada Sibli Qasim said that the star was "ridiculing Muslin religious tradition".

Singer-turned-actor Himesh Reshammiya apologized for offending religious sentiments after visiting a Muslim Sufi shrine disguised in a burqa.

``If I have committed a mistake, I apologize for it,'' he told reporters outside a shrine dedicated to a mystic Islamic Sufi saint in Rajasthan.

Reshammiya, who is a Hindu, had gone to the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti to seek blessings for his debut feature film ``Aap ka Suroor,''. But huge crowds gathered in front of the shrine to watch him and he wasn't able to enter the shrine, the report said.

Get Weird India Updates by e-mail