Tattva

One of the oldest epics in the world, the Ramayan has guided people along the path of dharma for thousands of years. Though Ramayan literally means “the path of Ram,” many of its messages are illustrated through the words and actions of other characters, particularly the women. When asked to name exemplary women from the Ramayan, most people would stop after Sita. However, in addition to Sita, there are several other characters who exemplified the principles of dharma. These women set examples for generations to come, and they serve as ideals for men and women of the 21^st century. Read the rest of this entry »

Dhumavati is the eldest of all the goddesses, the grandmother who provides the ultimate lessons of birth and death. She is the opposite of revelation, obstructing the known to reveal the unknown. She is Shakthi, without Shiva, the energy without the will and thus represents all our latent energies that need to be identified. Dhumavati shows the feminine principle of negation in all of its aspects. On an outer level she represents poverty, destitution, and suffering, the great misfortunes that we all fear in life. Hence she is said to be crooked, troublesome, and quarrelsome – a witch or a hag. Yet on an inner level this same negativity causes us to seek a greater fulfillment than can be achieved in the limited realms of the manifest creation. After all, only frustration in our outer life causes us to seek the inner reality. Dhumavati is whatever obstructs us in life, but what obstructs us in one area can release a new potential to grow in a different direction. Therefore, she is the good fortune that comes to us in the form of misfortune. She represents time or the life-force dissociated from the process of manifestation. She is the timeless which never really enters into the process of time. Dhumavati is portrayed as a tall and thin old woman with disheveled and matted hair, a widow lacking all aspects of Mangala. She is fearful, unattractive and dark in complexion, with a wrinkled face, and her limbs are red. She has a harsh look in her eyes and she is missing a number of her teeth, which are otherwise large in size. Sometimes she is portrayed with fangs and her nose is long and snout-like. She is dressed in old or dirty clothes and her breasts hang down. She rides a chariot whose insignia is a crow. In her left hand she carries a winnowing basket and blesses with the other. She is the very void where every form has been dissolved and can no longer be differentiated, free from the duality of object and subject.

Deepak Saagar is a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati.

निद्रा समये - Nidra Samaye
(Before going to bed)

रामस्कन्धं हनुमन्तम  वैनतेयं वृकोदरं |
शयने यः स्मरेन्नित्यं  दुःस्वप्नम् तस्य नश्यति ॥

ramaskandham hanumantam vainateyam vrkodaram
sayane yah smarennityam duh swapnam tasya nasyati

Sanskrit to English Word Meaning:

ramaskandham- Rama’s loyal follower; hanumantam- Hanuman; vainateya- Garuda; vrkodaram- Bhima; sayana- sleep time; yah- this; smaren- chant; nityam- always; duh- bad; swapnam- dream; tasya- then; nasyati- detroyed

Translation:

Meditating upon Hanuman, Garuda and Bhima before going to bed ensures a sleep without disturbing dreams.

Brief Explanation:

It is always good to have positive thoughts in one’s head before going to sleep. Lord Hanuman, Garuda and Bhima are symbolic of great courage, valour and strength; hence it advised to visualize and meditate upon them so that this drives away bad dreams.

Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Until the end of the 15th century, Hinduism was the predominant religion in the islands of Java and Sumatra. Hinduism is said to have spread to these islands as early as the first century AD. The Tarumanagara inscriptions of the 4th century AD are the earliest evidence of Hindu influence in Java. Hinduism flourished in these Indonesian islands until the arrival of Islam in the 14th century. Indonesia is today the most populous Muslim-majority nation, with 86.1% Muslims (2000 census) and 3% Hindus. However, there is a self-conscious Hindu revival movement emerging from the Javanese society with constant reference to the famous Javanese prophecies of Sabdapalon and Jayabhaya. Read the rest of this entry »

Figure 1: A scene from Nina Paley's animated film, "Sita Sings the Blues," in which Lord Rama walks on a pregnant Sita.

In 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article with the following statement: “In the conservative Hindu belief system that has been sweeping India for a decade, rape is considered a just punishment for various forms of misbehavior.” In regards to Rajan Zed’s opening of the 2007 California State Senate with a Hindu prayer, Ted Wildman, President of the American Family Association, made a mockery of Hindus by telling the San Francisco Chronicle, “I don’t know if he even knows who he’s praying to.” Nina Paley’s 2008 animated film, “Sita Sings the Blues,” poisons the beloved Ramayan with scenes such as Lord Rama kicking and walking on a pregnant Sita. Issues like these exemplify a disregard for Hindu sentiments and a gross misunderstanding of the Hindu civilization. And it doesn’t help that Hindu Americans have historically demonstrated a strong apathy towards issues afflicting Hinduism and Hindus around the world. But this began to change almost a decade ago. Attorneys Nikhil Joshi and Suhag Shukla and doctors Mihir Meghani and Aseem Shukla are Hindu Americans who have always stood up against the defamation of Hinduism. But in a 2002 get together in Pennsylvania, the four friends decided to team up, giving life to the Hindu American Foundation (HAF).

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The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) has organized their first ever Hindu American Capitol Hill Leadership Initiative. The internship is an 8-week program that will take place in Washington, DC during the summer of 2011. Interns will be trained by HAF before going to work in a Congressional office from May to June, 2011. We sat down with Pooja Deopura to ask some questions that might help you decide if this opportunity is right for you. Ms. Deopura is a recent UC Davis graduate and member of the HAF Executive Council.

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The mystics tell us that the word Bharat, denoting an entity illumined with divine light, has a two-fold connotation, referring as it does to both the Indian subcontinent as well as the human body. And as the human body is more than the sum of its parts, so is the land of Bharat. Composed of many states, its spiritual traditions have emerged undoubtedly through the joint contributions of all of its members, and yet today transcend them all by creating a common cultural substratum that precludes any narrow identification with a particular region. While the men and women who shaped the culture of our land did not self-identify themselves with any particular state, I shall do so below in this article for two reasons. First, I seek to illustrate the contribution of individual states to our national culture that often gets overlooked in contemporary discourse, and second, I wish to highlight the spectacular inter-connections between different Indian states that bind a follower of dharma to the modern Indian nation.

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R.S.S., or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is a Hindu organization in India. R.S.S. is probably unknown to most second generation immigrants in America. It is not my intention to provide information about it here, but I want to write about my sweet memories of my childhood association with R.S.S. members. It all began in 1980, when I was 9 years old. My brother Rahul and I were living in India.

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In his book, the "Tao of Physics," Fritzof Capra says "every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction…without end…For the modern physicists, then Shiva's dance is the dance of subatomic matter. As in Hindu mythology, it is a continual dance of creation and destruction involving the whole cosmos; the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena."

Who is Shiva? And what is the meaning of the Shivalinga, Shiva’s symbol or icon? Who is Parvati? Why do some people go on pilgrimage to a place like the Amaranath cave? What is the relationship between Shiva and Vishnu? What is the meaning of Shiva’s dance? In Hindu Dharma, God, or Brahman, is perceived as being beyond logical and associational categories. That is why it is nameless. But it assumes various forms when the context of the inquiry is limited. This is how a single all-pervading, omniscient entity assumes the form of many names. Each name is a Deva, a bright point of consciousness, that represents different angles to the same effulgence! The essence of the tradition is knowledge. Veda means knowledge. And the traditions is called Vaidika, “Vedic,” or equivalently, Aarya Dharma, “the noble way,” Satya Dharma, “the way of the truth,” or Sanatana Dharma, “the eternal way.” God or Brahman is considered to be synonymous with truth. Ordinary knowledge is supposed to be full of paradoxes because it is limited knowledge. On the other hand, true knowldege cannot be apprehended in terms of conditioned experience or language. So how do you represent transcendental notions of reality and existence? By means of symbols. These symbols must be infused with movement since the underlying reality is that of change. This is the primal dance of existence!

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सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः  सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः |
सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु  मा कश्चित्  दुःखभाग्भवेत् ॥

sarve bhavantu sukhinaha  sarve santu niraamayah
sarve bhadrani pashyantu  ma kaschit duhkha bhag bhavet

Sanskrit to English Word Meaning:

sarve- all; bhavantu- may be; sukhinah- happy; niramayah- free from disease; badrani- prosperity; pashyantu- may enjoy; ma- not; kaschit- anybody; duhkhabhag- one who suffers; bhavet- may be

Translation:

May all be happy. May all enjoy health and freedom from disease. May all enjoy prosperity. May none suffer.

Brief explanation:

This is usually chanted after finishing a meeting or conference call. These are prayers for the prosperity and welfare of humanity. To achieve anything in life, one has to make an effort and await the results. In addition, many unknown factors and laws influence the outcome of that effort. By praying to the Lord, one acknowledges these laws as the natural order inseparable from the Lord, and one acknowledges the Lord as the giver of all results of action.