tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46338251242958426152009-07-09T11:24:31.742+05:30A blog on Indian spirituality and Vedic cultureM. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125Subscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakestag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-11874784955626407742009-07-08T20:42:00.004+05:302009-07-08T21:04:14.775+05:30

In the Ramacharitamansa, Goswami Tulasidasa says that his Lord, Sri Rama, is beyond comparison and “Rama is only comparable to Rama.” This implies that all the metaphors and adjectives that we use in our glorification of the Divine are false or incomplete. “If one compares the Sun to a billion fireflies, it is, in fact, a criticism of the Sun,” for the Sun is nothing like them but much more. But

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-40302992579274079672009-06-20T00:22:00.003+05:302009-06-20T00:55:05.882+05:30

As soon as Lord Rama returned to India after defeating Ravana, a few sages, headed by Rishi Agastya, advised him to establish a Shivalinga that would be remembered by his name. Accordingly, Rama scheduled an auspicious time and asked Lord Hanuman to bring a Shivalinga from the Kailasa Parvat. As expected, Hanuman started off for the Himalayas with great enthusiasm. But Shiva, who probably wanted

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-75391568972525674562009-06-06T01:16:00.003+05:302009-06-06T01:24:25.661+05:30

Hinduism has a lot to say about workplace spirituality, especially when an entire section of the Bhagavad Gita, the yoga of karma, is focused upon it. However, to trigger karma yoga, we need a habit — a habit of remembering God, without which it can be difficult to renounce the outcome of our work (karma-phala). In fact, workplace spirituality involves a delicate balance between greed and

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-48589742265563747292009-05-18T21:41:00.001+05:302009-05-18T21:45:19.977+05:30

The temple of Somnath, a Hindu pilgrimage site, is situated in Gujarat and is considered one of the twelve foremost temples of Lord Shiva on the planet. The mythological story behind the emergence of this Jyotirlinga, which symbolizes Shiva as a column of light, revolves around the moon (personified as a god) and the nakshatras (constellations). According to the Shiva Purana, Moon married Daksha

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-74209262350619913162009-05-06T21:45:00.005+05:302009-05-12T16:21:39.328+05:30

In a poem1 from the Sabad, the Bhakti Saint Kabirdas says, “Only Krishna knows about the origin of creation, which resembles a forest. All I know is that without the name of Rama,2 our life is in vain.” He continues to say that the blossoming flowers of spring (metaphor for materialism) look very attractive to the jiva. But the jiva forgets that just like scent, which resides in flowers, it is

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-8874771003396188952009-04-26T02:21:00.003+05:302009-05-04T02:50:16.557+05:30

I have posted a new entry titled "Whom do Hindus worship?" at this page. I thought it might be of interest to you.If you are new to Hinduism or have been learning about this religion and way of life for only a short time, Hinduism Basics should have some more information for you in the coming days.

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-72239692270859202132009-04-23T21:07:00.007+05:302009-04-27T22:07:16.956+05:30

The tenth house in the horoscope stands for what we do in life, and the ninth house shows what we should do in life. When the lords of these two houses meet by conjunction, mutual reception (parivartan), or mutual aspect, Vedic astrologers label the planetary combination as Dharma Karma Adhipati Yoga. As soon as a Raja yoga of this prominence shows up in a chart, it is natural for us, the users

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-38140718011885391462009-04-16T18:21:00.002+05:302009-04-16T18:29:26.465+05:30

Yesterday, through a query sent to me by a learner of Hinduism, I came across, for the second time over the last few months, a fictitious tenet of Hinduism that has been circulating in Western literature for quite some time: "All Hindus believe that the world is illusionary." When we study Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta, we cannot pick up a single phrase from his statements to conclude that

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-24189089873150415542009-04-15T08:11:00.001+05:302009-04-15T08:13:38.404+05:30

If Brahman cannot be experienced through discourses from a teacher and good deeds, what is their use for spiritual individuals? To answer this question, the Yogavasistha has a story to share. Once, a tribesman lost a coin near a big heap of grass in a forest. Though he was well-off, he was a miser. Because he really needed his lost coin back, he searched for it in the forest for three days. He

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-91516736892535823902009-04-02T18:43:00.003+05:302009-05-13T00:04:53.277+05:30

Sri Ramachandra was born on the ninth day of the lunar month Chaitra in the town of Ayodhya to teach humans how to live righteously. His biography, the epic Ramayana, forms the biggest chapter of ethics in Hinduism. To perform a divine play on a grand scale, when Lord Vishnu incarnated as Rama, his spouse, Goddess Lakshmi, incarnated as Devi Sita. Moreover, Shesha Naga, the unborn serpent god,

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-2672623658632535532009-03-22T15:45:00.001+05:302009-03-22T15:51:11.233+05:30

Bhakti yoga gets triggered as soon as we utter a name of God with a wish to reach him. By the continual remembrance of the Divine, every action in our life becomes a step towards realizing our eternal relationship with him. And the yoga concludes when nothing but God and his love (bhakti) fill our mind. At this point, jivas on earth experience their relationship with God for some time and hand

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-85844880701525961302009-03-10T20:18:00.004+05:302009-03-10T20:47:10.562+05:30

As we play Holi with colored powder and water to welcome joy and friendliness in our lives, we should recognize that for bhakti saints like Mirabai, the festival and its colors have a special meaning — they symbolize the complete immersion of a jiva in the Lord’s bhakti. In one of her poems,1 Mirabai aspires to play Holi with Krishna in her own way. She requests Krishna to color her veil (

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-55838406125307883362009-02-20T22:08:00.007+05:302009-02-28T01:53:05.611+05:30

Once upon a time, a huntsman, sitting on the branch of a tree, was trying to shoot down a deer. As he aimed the arrow, he unknowingly pushed some bilva leaves and water on a Shivalinga that was situated near the base of the tree. Before the arrow was fired, the deer gave its consent to become the hunter’s food but requested the hunter to spare some time so that it could meet its children at home

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-5494799237585538062009-02-11T22:57:00.002+05:302009-02-11T23:07:30.495+05:30

In the Srimad Bhagavat Purana, Lord Krishna informs Uddhava about numerous mystical powers that can be achieved through yoga. While selected siddhis seem to defy the fundamental laws of physics by giving us the ability to reduce or increase our physical size and mass beyond what we can imagine, others focus on controlling fellow beings, circumstances, or the entire world and on obtaining all

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-44681557777698938432009-01-25T15:32:00.002+05:302009-01-25T15:36:40.077+05:30

When Mother Earth was being hurt by the cruelty of her kings and rulers, Vishnu’s partial incarnation Parasurama was born as Rishi Jamadagni’s son to punish the kshatriya (warrior) clans. Following the killing of his father (who was later revived) by the family of Sahastrabahu Arjun, Parasurama wiped out generations of corrupt warriors from the planet to restore justice for the masses and “purify

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-58176581951901783362009-01-13T11:27:00.002+05:302009-01-13T11:38:10.091+05:30

According to a narrative in the Mahabharata (Aashwamedhik Parva), the gods, rishis, serpents, and asuras — all visited Lord Brahma some time ago and asked, “Lord, how can we attain our wellbeing?” After listening to their request, Brahma uttered out a single word “Om” from his mouth as his response. The four groups of students accepted this answer to their question, returned to their abodes, and

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-53931470215189649372009-01-01T22:27:00.005+05:302009-01-01T22:41:25.042+05:30

In the absence of a set of instructions from a founder or a single book to follow, learning about Hinduism can be somewhat difficult for a novice. The main obstacle comes from its diversity, which later turns out to be its biggest strength. “Which book should I study?” and “What are Hinduism’s basic beliefs?” are two popular questions that a beginner usually asks. While “the Bhagavad Gita” can be

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-79626789748925312892008-12-18T19:54:00.003+05:302009-02-13T14:23:16.883+05:30

Vocational astrologers often correlate professional aptitude with planetary combinations. Every strong planet in our chart supposedly strengthens a specific way of thinking. While we can not comprehensively match every contemporary career direction with a planetary combination in a single blog post, we can at least look at one popular expression of every planet.For Sun, the king among planets,

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-31590265828509207532008-12-04T18:28:00.002+05:302008-12-04T18:37:47.715+05:30

For Hindus, trees are living beings entirely permeated by the Divine. While Bargad, Amla, and Kadamb have immense spiritual significance, the Pipal (Ashvattha; Sacred Fig) is particularly distinguished. Because many Hindus see their Lord in the Pipal tree, they offer it lamps, flowers, and circumambulation (parikrama), treating the tree like a deity. This behavior demonstrates the magnitude of

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-19774975858814126982008-11-24T22:32:00.005+05:302008-11-24T23:12:36.087+05:30

The Adhyatma Ramayana classifies Bhakti into three types according to the mode of nature (guna) we attach it with. When we worship to hurt other beings or couple our worship with pride, jealousy, or anger, our Bhakti is said to be tamas. Because tamas makes us assume the wrong to be righteous, we may end up tying ourselves more to our negative karma as a result of it. As an example, prayers and

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-46438076276551202322008-11-06T23:51:00.002+05:302008-11-07T00:00:09.736+05:30

When the asura king Bali sieged swarga (heaven) from Indra, the Lord incarnated to get Indra’s “land” back on the request of Aditi, the mother of the gods. But it actually turned out to be a test of Bali’s devotion and allegiance to dharma. As a human dwarf brahmin carrying an umbrella, Vamana asked King Bali to offer him three steps of land. When Bali made a promise, Vamana increased the size of

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-28648871849461544992008-10-31T16:30:00.001+05:302008-10-31T23:18:23.319+05:30

Individuals who have attained freedom from the cycle of rebirths while being physically present on earth are termed as jivanmukta. From what we learn about them from books on jnana yoga such as the Yogavasistha, unexpectedly meeting a group of jivanmukta human beings can be rather frustrating to many of us due to their unusual way of life. Given below are a few features of such beings.They never

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-84971973889858228552008-10-23T17:01:00.001+05:302008-10-23T17:10:55.680+05:30

In the treta yuga, the people of Ayodhya celebrated their first Diwali (Deepavali) on Sri Rama’s return to his hometown. The lighting of lamps on this occasion was subsequently followed by the darshan of Rama. In our age, we can see this most popular Indian festival as an opportunity to welcome Rama in our life. It reminds us that by dispelling darkness from our mind, we too can be blessed with a

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-86004231200664752552008-10-09T20:27:00.003+05:302008-10-09T20:43:22.059+05:30

When I first came across the term Bhakti Movement in school, I assumed that it was a typical social movement in which selected spiritual leaders across India who shared a common objective planned and propagated some social reforms. Today, I believe that this occurrence in late medieval India, when Hindu spirituality was at its lowest due to political reasons and ethical confusion, was one of its

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633825124295842615.post-67536029195465720982008-10-01T22:30:00.005+05:302008-10-01T22:39:35.823+05:30

For progress in karma yoga, we need a foundation: (1) righteousness in our karma (actions), (2) lack of attachment to the results of our karma, and (3) faith in God,* who grants the results of all karma. Gandhi’s approach in India’s independence movement demonstrated his perfection in karma yoga.“For Gandhi, independence of India by expelling members of the imperialist team out of India by any

M. Shrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12894931275191748342noreply@blogger.com0