#hinduteachings

[ancienthinduism]

Brahman or the Supreme Self alone is real. He is the Soul of all. He is All in all. He is the Essence of this universe. He is the Unity that never admits of a duality under all the varieties and diversities of nature. Thou art this immortal, all-pervading, all-blissful Brahman. 

Thou art That-Tat Tvam Asi. 

Realise this and be free.

[ancienthinduism]

{ in picture - Vamana avatar of Lord Vishnu)

O Almighty! You are the infinite; the universe is also infinite! From infinite the infinite has come out! Having taken infinite out of the infinite, the infinite remains! O Almighty! May there be Peace! Peace! Everywhere!

~ (Ishawashya Upanishad)

[ancienthinduism]

SHANTI : PEACE. Idea of peace in HInDUiSm

A shanti mantra is a prayer or chant for peace, particularly as found in the ancient scriptures known as the Upanishads. The term comes from the Sanskrit, shanti, meaning “peace”; and mantra, meaning “incantation,” “prayer” or “song of praise.”A shanti mantra is often recited before and after Hindu religious rituals. In yoga, a simple “om shanti” or “om shanti, shanti, shanti” may be recited as a greeting or parting salutation and for the purpose of removing distractions and focusing the mind.

Shanti Mantras are prayers for Peace.

They are often recited at the beginning and at the end of religious ceremonies or rituals in Hinduism. Shanti Mantras are often found in the Upanishads, where they are recited to calm the mind of the reciter and the environment around him. They often end with reciting the word “Shanti” three times. The word Shanti is recited three times for removing obstacles and calming the three realms:

1) Physical , 

2) Divine , 

3) Internal.

Let’s consider one such Shanti Mantra here.

SHANTI MANTRA : 

Om poornamadah poornamidam poornaat poornamudachyate

Poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaavashishsyate

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti ||

MEANING : That is Full, This is Full. From Fullness comes Fullness

If Fullness is taken away from Fullness, what remains is Fullness

Peace Peace Peace .

In the above sloka, ‘That’ refers to the Divine and ‘This’ to the Creation. From the Divine comes Creation, which is also nothing but Divine. This universe is nothing but a manifestation of Divinity. The Divine remains Divine, inspite of the Creation. We, humans, as parts of Creation are nothing but Divinity. All that exists is Divinity. The realization of this truth brings peace in its truest sense.

This in short is the implied essence of this Shanti Mantra.

Are there real examples in this world to understand the truth of this mantra?

From a cup of water, if we take water and place in another cup, the original cup becomes empty, while the other cup becomes full.

In this understanding, when we take away something out of something, that something from which we take becomes incomplete, different and not full. This linear thinking is what has not allowed us to perceive the oneness of universe and the Divine. We experience the universe with all its dualities, and are many times left with nothing but sorrow. Then, when we become frustrated with our lives and lose Peace of Mind,we go on to label this Creation as the ‘original sin’ of ‘God’.

Take for example, the case of a candle. When we light a candle from another candle, the original candle doesn’t lose its flame.Similarly, when a mother gives birth to a child, the mother remains complete, and the child also is complete.

When we share Peace with others, we don’t lose our Peace, but at the same time bring Peace to others.

Thus, we see that the universe is not different from its ‘Maker’. And, we as parts of the cosmos are not separate beings either. Our true Identity is Divinity! You are Full. You are Divine. This is what is recorded in teachings of the rishis, in the “Upanishads of Hinduism .” The understanding of this non-dual nature of our Creation is the true path to peaceful existence.

[ancienthinduism]

THE ‘ HE & SHE ‘ DILEMMA OF GOD : what is the gender of god ?  (acc. to hinduism)

There have been numerous queries on our forum about how there is only ‘one female goddess in hinduism’ ,but ‘so many male gods’ .About how can GOD be associated as only Father/HE & not as Mother/SHE.That why is “GOD” only seen as a paternal figure rather than a maternal manifestation.

It is just a sense of perspective that leads us to such false conclusions.

PATRIARCHY ends in the human world of innumerable woes.

The esoteric Knowledge of the Purana’s should not be used to justify mortal affairs .

God is of neither  gender – and is both. Let's consider this .

Before we can understand whether God is male or female, we need to clearly understand that we ourselves are neither male nor female. We are at core spiritual beings, souls, whereas our gender refers only to our shell, our physical bodies. Our spiritual identity is eternal, our gender is transient. Hence both male chauvinism and feminism are two sides of the counterfeit coin of physical misidentification. Only when we distance ourselves from our temporary physical gender will be freed from the ideological preconceptions that are inevitably dragged into discussion on the gender of God. So in the conventional sense of the words 'male' and 'female' where these refer to bodily gender, God is neither.         

The creation is compared to female and the creator is compared to male. The creation is controlled by the creator. The Creator has no meaning without the creation.Generally the female is controlled by the male.

“THE SUPREME CONSCIOUSNESS & IT’S POWER ARE ONE !”

 Following this convention, the concept is represented accordingly. FOR EXAMPLE, Goddess Lakshmi is pressing the feet of the Lord Narayana as a servant. Here some misunderstand this as the male domination. Since the male domination existed in nature, the concept is represented like that. This does not mean that the concept supports the male domination. Even in the ancient tradition, there used to be some cases of female domination over the males. 

According to that tradition God is represented by the female or Parashakti whose throne is carried by Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva on their shoulders.

Sankara praises God in female form in ‘Soundaryalahari’ in which it is stated that Brahma creates the universe from the dust of Her lotus feet, Vishnu carries it on His head and Shiva powders it and applies on His body as ash. (Taniyamsam Pamsum….).

Here God is in the female-medium and the souls are in the mediums of males. Here Vishnu represents the soul and Adiparashakti represents God. Therefore the domination of male or female is not the point here, which may vary from case to case. But the domination of God over souls is the reality that is to be represented.

When the human incarnation of Durga appeared to kill Mahishasura, Durga is female and Mahishasura is male. You cannot give victory to Mahishasura since he is male and defeat to Durga since She is female. Let the dominations and suppressions of males and females be restricted to the human beings only as social problems and let them not enter and pollute the spiritual concepts.

A FEW EXAMPLES FROM THE HINDU MYTHOLOGY ARE LISTED BELOW,

Ravana was a male and a Brahmin. Gopikas were women and belonged to the backward caste. Gopikas were given Goloka which is the top most place. Ravana was thrown into hell. Therefore in the devotees also, the concept of male or female and the concept of caste system does not exist except the devotion proved by sacrifice. Gopikas proved their devotion by sacrificing butter (wealth), Dharma, children and finally they sacrificed even their lives by jumping into fire when Krishna left the human body, even though their husbands were alive! See the quality of devotion of Gopikas who were women of backward caste.

See the state of Ravana who is male and brahmin. He desired for the wife of the Lord! He could not recognize Rama who was the human incarnation at that time and neglected Him as an ordinary human being. Ravana was a great scholar of Vedas and Shastras. The four vedas and the six shastras represent the ten heads of Ravana. He did unimaginable penance. He believed only in the energetic forms of the upper worlds.He never considered the human race. He thought himself as God due to the super powers attained by Him. Sudama was a male and a brahmin but stole the part of parched rice to be given to the Lord while both were students. Sudama was punished with severe poverty for that sin. Therefore  Lord Krishna proved that there is no caste or gender for Him except the proved devotion which is the sacrifice.

Any incarnation is the mixture of Purusha and Prakruti. The Prakruti part of the incarnation is neglected and the incarnation is treated as the unimaginable God in mediated condition. The wife sitting by the side of mediated God represents the devoted soul or Prakruti or Shakti. The devoted soul can even command the God. Hence, approaching God through a soul is called as worship of Shakti. Shakti being a soul can understand the problems of another soul and hence is treated as mother. Purusha is treated as father.You may think that, God is represented in male form and not much in female form. It is done so, following the traditional psychology representing domination of male husband over female wife. The psychology is simply followed, which is easily grasped by everybody. It does not really mean the real existence of domination of male over female.

It is also wrong to believe that Self is male and the energy is female. Purusha exists in males as well as females and so does Prakriti exists in males also. They are like the two sides of the same truth. It is also difficult to say who is superior to whom. Without energy Self is practically immovable and without Self energy does not have any field for its movements. The Truth at the highest level: pure energy (PRAKRITI is undivided consciousness (PURUSHA).

You get the idea of domination seeing only the form of medium and this medium is a part of creation or wife or female or Prakruti only! You can imagine that two ladies are acting in two different roles as husband and wife. Both the actors are basically females only. You can say that Datta (male form) represents unimaginable power (female) than unimaginable God (Male). 

Following the traditional psychology of male domination / Male over female is  for easier understanding & acceptance of a common man of average thinking - God is represented as male and soul is represented as female.Literally , this does not exist , nor is it possible since,

The Strength of the ‘CREATOR’ can not be divided  down to a humanoid term like HE/ SHE.

{ TO BE CONTINUED...stay tuned}

[ancienthinduism]

Invocation.

Stotras are poems written in praise of a particular deity. Sthothras are composed by someone, a rishi or a human being or even Gods ,Whereas Mantras are not composed by any particular person .

Stotra is a Sanskrit word that means “praise,” “hymn of praise,” “ode” and “eulogy.” It typically refers to a genre of Hindu texts that are sung (rather than recited) and that praise various aspects and incarnations of the Divine, such as Shiva, Rama, Hanuman, Vishnu, Durga and Lakshmi.

Stotras (or stotram) originate in the Vedas, the earliest of Hindu scriptures, particularly the "Rig Veda," and in the Puranas, Indian texts that cover a wide range of topics.

In addition to general praise for God, stotras describe mystical or deep spiritual experiences or may petition God to forgive sins, remove difficulties, grant higher knowledge or bestow physical or emotional comforts.

A nama-stotra is a stotra in which various names for a deity are sung. A sahasranama is a nama-stotra in which 1,000 names for a specific deity are sung. Some examples of stotras are:

Shiva Tandava Stotram (a stotra to Shiva's power and beauty) -  Shiva Tandava Stotra (Sanskrit: शिवताण्डवस्तोत्र, romanized: śiva-tāṇḍava-stotra) is a stotra (Hindu hymn) that describes Shiva's power and beauty. It is traditionally attributed to Ravana, the asura King of Lanka and devotee of Shiva.

Agasti Lakshmi Stotra (praise for Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and abundance) -  This is a prayer to Goddess Lakshmi by the great sage Agasti. It is said to be a very fruitful prayer. The benefits of reciting this prayer are listed at the end of the page.

Dvadasha Stotra (a series of 12 stotras in praise of Vishnu) -  The Dvâdasha Stotra is a collection of twelve stotras in praise of Vishnu, composed by Srimad Ananda Tîrtha. This collection is collectively counted as one of his 37 works, and is said to encapsulate the doctrine of Tattvavâda to a great deal of depth. Popular tradition has it that the Dvâdasha Stotra was composed at the time of the installation by him of the Krishna icon at Udupi (image shown above); thus, some effort is made here to describe that event as well.

Margabandhu Stotram -  This great Stotra Rathna was written by Appayya Deekshitha (1520-1593). He was the greatest interpreter of Advaita Siddhanta after Adi Sankara. This stotra is written in praise of the Lord Margabandhu of Virinchipuram, near Vellore of South Arcot district of Tamil Nadu. People who undertake any journey should recite it before traveling, on the days when they are traveling and after the completion of travel. Lord Shiva as Margabandhu would always be with them and protect them.

[ancienthinduism]

#krishnateachingsforlife