One of the customary aspects of going to a temple is the practice of going around the deity or the sanctum sanctorum. This is called pradakshina. Typically, pradakshina is done after the completion of traditional worship (pooja) and after paying homage to the deity. We cannot draw a circle without a center point. The Lord is the center, source and essence of our lives. We acknowledge this by performing pradakshina.
सरस्वति नमस्थुभ्यम् वरदे कामरुपिणि
sarasvati namasthubhyam varade kāmarupiṇi
विद्यारम्भम् करिष्यामि सिद्धिर्भवतु मे सदा
vidyārambham kariṣyāmi siddhirbhavatu me sadā Read the rest of this entry »
In ancient times, there was a small village in India named Devapuri. The people of the village were very devout. Every evening, each family in the village would perform the yagna. Only then they would have their dinner and perform other house-hold activities.Saramishtha and Gopaldas was one such couple in the village. Their life was flowing smoothly like the water of Ganges in the planes.
To remind the reader Yoga Charcha is an informal discussion of Yoga literature. In this article we try to explore the analysis of human behaviour as written by Patanjali and other sages in Yogic literature. In this article we quote excerpts from Iyengar’s Light on Yoga. We will find that this analysis is oriented towards making progress in yoga. Nevertheless we can find spiritual guidance that will help us in our daily routines or sansarik jeevan.
Vande Mātaram (Hail to the Motherland) is the national song of India. The song was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. The song first appeared in his book Anandamatha. Rabindranath Tagore sang it in 1896 by setting a glorious tune to it and it was left to the genius of Shri Aurobindo to interpret the deeper meaning of the song out of which India received the philosophy of new Nationalism. The English translation of Vande Mataram rendered by Shree Aurobindo, is considered as the official and best.
You have heard “Everything is God. There is nothing outside of God.”. Then why is this not your experience? This is a fundamental question. Why is God not an experiential reality for you?
Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritham
Dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge (Gita 4:8)
[For the upliftment of the good and virtuous, for the destruction of evil, for the re-establishment of natural laws, I will come in every age.]
So goes the well-known verse from the Bhagavad-Gita. The popular connotation of this verse is that the divine promised to manifest as an extra-ordinary life form to protect the good and destroy evil. I’d like to think that it means the divine will manifest in ordinary life forms to take up the extra-ordinary deed of confronting evil whenever there is threat to the good. This is especially true about the Hindu dharma and Hindus. Read the rest of this entry »
The temple is the focus for all aspects of everyday life in the Hindu community - religious, cultural, educational and social. The temple is a place where God may be approached and where divine knowledge can be discovered. Identify the temples below. Answers given at the bottom
