Panchanga means five limbs. Most of us must have heard the term Panchanga in the context of the Indian calendar or while trying to fix an auspicious time for any important event like marriage or grihapravesha. What are these five limbs? What is their significance? How have these been derived? Have we ever wondered about … Continue reading understanding panchanga
Lord Brahma’s Advice to His Creation
In vedic astrology human births are classified as Deva Gana, Manushya Gana and Rakshasa Gana. It does not mean that those who are born under Rakshasa gana are demonic in nature. Among other implications, such classifications are usually taken into account while matching horoscopes of prospective brides and grooms. Otherwise also we have lots of … Continue reading Lord Brahma’s Advice to His Creation
Shri Jaganathashtakam by Adi Shankaracharya
An Ashtakam is a composition in eight stanzas. This is quite popular in the stuti genre of Sanskrit Literature. The Jagannath Ashtakam was composed by Adi Shankaracharya. It is not possible to give the exact meaning of each line. However, I have tried to be as near as possible in my translation. I have also … Continue reading Shri Jaganathashtakam by Adi Shankaracharya
walking the path
In ancient times people undertook journey primarily for business and conquest. And sometimes for pilgrimages. These days people mostly undertake journey for business and pleasure. And sometimes for pilgrimages. Even though Yatra literally means journey - any kind of journey, whenever we hear the word yatra we can sense a tinge of holiness or spirituality … Continue reading walking the path
of time and place
A lot importance is given in our culture and tradition to the concept of time and place. Choosing proper time for starting and doing any important activity is an integral part of our culture. Lots of research has been done in this regard since ancient times and our Rishis have shared many insights which were … Continue reading of time and place
Deva Snana Poornima – the ritual and its significance
Deva Snana Poornima is an important ritual in the build up to the Annual Car festival of Lord Jagannath. For the un-initiate, on this day the idols of Sudarshana, Ma Subhadra, Lord Balabhadra and Lord Jagannatha are taken out to the 'Altar of Bathing' inside the temple premises. An elaborate bath is given which can … Continue reading Deva Snana Poornima – the ritual and its significance
know that food is brahman
So, what is Brahman? Maybe, thousands of slokas in Vedas and Darshanas have been dedicated to describe the nature of Brahman. Most of our principal Upanishads are primarily about Brahman. What I mean is - it is very difficult to define it in a few sentences. But some indications can be given. Recently scientists were … Continue reading know that food is brahman
Eat Pay Leave -the mandatory new year post
From the title of the post if you guessed that it is going to be a post consisting of lots of random thoughts, you will not be disappointed. I will try to make it as incoherent as possible. Or maybe there will be some coherence if I choose to restrict the post to a few … Continue reading Eat Pay Leave -the mandatory new year post
The Essence of Ancient India
“The seers of ancient India had, in their experiments and efforts at spiritual training and the conquest of the body, perfected a discovery which in its importance to the future of human knowledge dwarfs the divinations of Newton and Galileo , even the discovery of the inductive and experimental method in Science was not more momentous... -Sri Aurobindo“
What is more fascinating than getting to know about your own glorious past? What is more interesting than analyzing how as a civilization have we been shaping up our own spiritual evolution? What is more beautiful than being able to get voluminous authentic , first hand researched material in a capsulated format ? Absolutely Nothing!
But you have everything in front of you with this E book titled The Beauty of Sanskrit language and texts that promises to satiate the hunger for knowledge and wisdom of someone who…
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spare a thought for our water bodies
Water is life. The most essential thing after air is water. In my previous post in this series on environmental issues, I discussed about Air. In this article I intend to draw the reader's attention to water. There are man made water bodies like the ponds and canals. And there are natural water bodies like … Continue reading spare a thought for our water bodies
PEBBLES AND WAVES 