Worshipping Durga on a Shora: Clay, Colour and Faith In Hindu tradition, God can be worshipped in many forms. Some people worship a big idol, some a small stone, and some a painting. Goddess Durga is sometimes worshipped as a painting on a Shora. This is mostly seen in Bengal and nearby regions like Odisha and Assam. What is a Shora? A Shora is a round vessel made of terracotta, which is baked clay. Its shape is slightly concave on one side and convex on the other. The concave side is used to carry offerings during ritual, like flowers, fruits, rice and sweets. The convex side is used for painting. The picture of the God or Goddess is drawn there, and devotees worship that picture. Hindu Teachings Behind It Hindu philosophy teaches that the Divine is not limited to one shape. The formless Brahman can be seen through many names and forms, and a devotee can choose the form that is close to his or her heart. Durga is the form of Shakti, the divine power that protects the world and destroy...

Within, Beside, Among, Inside: How Good and Evil Travel Through the Yugas In Hindu thought, all of manifest existence is woven from three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas. These are not simply "good," "neutral" and "evil" as English forces them to be translated; they are qualities of nature itself, sattva being clarity, harmony and illumination, rajas being passion, activity and restlessness, and tamas being inertia, darkness and resistance. Krishna explains this directly in the Bhagavad Gita: "Sattva, rajas and tamas, these gunas, born of prakriti, bind down the imperishable embodied soul to the body" (Bhagavad Gita 14.5). No being, however exalted, is entirely free of these three forces until liberation; the gunas are always present together, only their proportion changes. This is why the question is never whether good and evil exist in an age, but how closely they stand to one another.  In modern simple terms, good and evil are always present; w...

 The Diplomacy of Strength: Krishna's Lesson on Avoiding Needless Bloodshed When Yudhishthira sought to perform the Rajasuya yajna and declare himself emperor, one obstacle towered above all others: Jarasandha, the powerful king of Magadha. No ruler could claim universal sovereignty while Jarasandha remained undefeated, for he held many kings captive and commanded an army of immense strength. A direct war against Magadha would have meant catastrophic loss of life on both sides. This was the dilemma Krishna had to resolve, not through brute force, but through intelligence. Krishna's Approach: Precision Over Power Krishna understood a fundamental truth of statecraft: the destruction of an army is not the same as the removal of a threat. The true source of Magadha's danger was Jarasandha himself, not his soldiers, many of whom were unwillingly conscripted kings. Rather than wage a prolonged war that would devastate both kingdoms, Krishna chose precision over power. Disgu...

 The Supreme Goal: Self-Awareness as the Essence of Hindu Spiritual Practice In Hindu religion, one truth stands paramount: the ultimate goal of human existence is self-awareness, the recognition of one's true nature beyond the transient world of names and forms. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.10) declares, "Aham Brahmasmi" – I am Brahman – encapsulating the profound realization that individual consciousness is not separate from universal consciousness. This self-awareness is not merely intellectual understanding but a transformative awakening that dissolves the illusion of separation between the individual soul (Atman) and the cosmic reality (Brahman). The Mundaka Upanishad (3.2.9) illuminates this path: "When the seer beholds the brilliant maker and lord of the world as the Person who has his source in Brahman, then he, having become wise, shakes off good and evil, becomes stainless, and reaches the supreme unity." This verse emphasizes that true spiritua...

Tithi in Panchang – Hindu Calendar on Tuesday, October 13 2026 – It is Shukla Paksha Tritiya tithi or the third day during waxing or light phase of moon in Hindu calendar and Panchang in most regions. It is Shukla Paksha Tritiya tithi or the third day during waxing or light phase of moon till 10 :19 PM on October 13. Then onward it is Shukla Paksha Chaturthi tithi or the fourth day during waxing or light phase of moon till 11 :51 PM on October 14. (Time applicable in all north, south and eastern parts of India. All time based on India Standard Time.)  Good – Auspicious time on October 13, 2026 as per Hindu Calendar – There is no good and auspicious time on the entire day.  Nakshatra  –Swathi or Chothi nakshatra till 12:04 AM on October 13. Then onward it is Vishaka or Vishakam nakshatra till 1:47 AM on October 14. (Time applicable in north, south and eastern parts of India).  In western parts of India (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, north Karnataka and south ...

The Enchantress of the Gods: Mohini, Deception, and the Dharmic Intelligence of Vishnu In the popular imagination, divine intervention is often pictured as thunderous and martial — weapons blazing, armies defeated, evil vanquished in open battle. But the story of the Mohini avatar of Bhagavan Vishnu quietly challenges this assumption. Here, the Preserver of the cosmos does not descend as a warrior. He descends as a woman of incomparable beauty, armed with nothing but intelligence, grace, and a deep understanding of human weakness. The Mohini avatar stands as one of the most philosophically rich and layered manifestations in all of Vaishnava tradition, demonstrating that the divine works not just through power, but through wisdom — and when necessary, through illusion itself. The Ocean of Milk and the Crisis of Dharma The backdrop of the Mohini avatar's most celebrated appearance is the Samudra Manthan, the churning of the cosmic ocean, described in vivid detail in the Srimad Bh...

Serpents of the Deep: Ocean, Nagas and Hidden Knowledge in the Mahabharata In the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva, Kadru and Vinata travel to see the divine horse Uchaishravas, to settle their bet about the colour of its tail. On the way they see the great ocean, the storehouse of waters. The Mahabharata describes it as the beautiful home of the nagas. This is not a passing remark. The epic repeatedly connects serpents with water, whether sea, river or lake. Bhima in the World of the Nagas The most known incident is Bhima's. Duryodhana feeds him poisoned food and throws him, unconscious, into the Ganga. Bhima sinks down to the world of the nagas. There the serpents bite him, but their poison actually cancels the poison he had eaten. Vasuki, the king of nagas, receives him with respect and gives him a drink that increases his strength greatly. Bhima returns to the surface stronger than before. The lesson is clear: what looks like death can become a source of power, and the hidden ...

From Yoga to Bhakti: How the Nath Sampradaya Shaped the Soul of the Varkari Panth Maharashtra's spiritual landscape in the medieval period was one of extraordinary richness. Two of its most significant movements — the Varkari panth and the Nath sampradaya — did not emerge in isolation from one another. They flowed from a common source, shaped each other, and together gave Maharashtra a religious identity that endures to this day. Understanding their connection is to understand the very heart of Maharashtrian devotion. The Nath Sampradaya: Yogis Who Held the Thread The Nath sampradaya, tracing its lineage through Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath, was primarily a tradition of hatha yoga, kundalini sadhana, and deep inner realization. Yet its saints were never removed from the people. They wandered, taught, and carried within them a profound awareness of Bhagavan as the supreme reality underlying all yogic practice. The Nath tradition held that liberation was not merely a matter of...

The Literature of Shraddha: From the Vedas to the Compendiums Shraddha is one of the oldest duties in Hindu life. It is a ritual done with faith by a person for his departed parents and forefathers. The word "shraddha" comes from "shraddha", which means faith or sincerity, so the ritual is basically an act of faith and gratitude towards those who gave us our life and our family name. The literature on this subject is very large. Since the subject was first passed down orally through Shruti for thousands of years, its real age cannot be counted exactly, but the written literature is available continuously from around 500 BCE onwards. The Basic Teaching Behind Shraddha Hindu teaching says that a person has three debts from birth. These are the debt to the gods (Deva Rina), the debt to the sages (Rishi Rina) and the debt to the ancestors (Pitri Rina). Shraddha is the way to repay the debt to the ancestors. In this ritual, food and water are offered, with mantras, to th...

Muneeswaran Idol Form — The Guardian Presence: Sculpture Form, Symbolism, and Sacred Meaning Muneeswaran belongs to a distinct category of Tamil Hindu worship — the kaval deivam, or guardian deity — whose primary role is the protection of a community, its boundaries, and its people. Deeply embedded in the religious fabric of Tamil Nadu, and venerated wherever Tamil communities have taken root across the world, Muneeswaran is not a distant, abstract principle but an immediate, intensely personal divine presence. His worship is closely interwoven with the Muniandi and muni traditions, and is broadly framed within the Shaiva idiom, positioning him as a devotee, emanation, or aspect of Shiva — the supreme ascetic and lord of all muni beings. The term muni itself, rooted in Sanskrit and absorbed into Tamil religious vocabulary, traditionally refers to a sage, a silent meditant, or one of great spiritual austerity. In Shaiva scripture and philosophy, munis are revered as beings who have mo...