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Showing posts from March 9, 2015


Kamadeva – The Hindu God of Love – The Story of Kamadevan

Kamadeva, also known as Madana or Kanderpa, is the Hindu god of carnal love and he has the powers to stimulate physical sexual desire. He is an important Vedic deity but was burned to ashes by Lord Shiva – this was his great sacrifice. Kamadevan rose from the heart of Lord Brahma. The consorts of Kamadeva are Rati and Priti. He is encircled by Apsaras, Gandharvas and Kinnaras and God Vasanta or spring season. Kamadeva is generally depicted as a young handsome male with green or red skin. He is handsomely dressed and is adorned with ornaments and flowers. His weapon is a bow of sugar-cane, strung with a line of honeybees and arrows are tipped with flowers. His vehicle or Vahana is a parrot. Kamadeva was chosen to kindle the feeling of love in Lord Shiva who had entered into a deep meditation after the death of Goddess Sati. Kamadev knew that Lord Shiva was endowed with a fiery sight and disturbing him from his meditation is inviting death. But he performed the act so that t

Birth of Mangal and Role of Shiva – Story

Mangal (Mars) is one of the Navagrahas in Hinduism. The story the birth of Mangal is associated with Shiva and is found in the Matsya Purana. Demon Antaksura performed intense austerities and pleased Shiva. He got the boon that if a drop of his blood fell on earth, many more demons will arise from it. With such a powerful boon in possession, Antaksur went on a rampage defeating celestial beings, humans and other demons. He conquered the three worlds and unleashed a rule of Adharma. The celestial beings under the leadership of Indra approached Shiva to find a solution. Shiva on hearing the Adharmic activities of Antaksura decided to put an end to it. Shiva fought a fierce battle against the demon. A sweat from Shiva’s forehead fell on earth due to the intense battle. The sweat upon touching earth gave birth to Mangal. Shiva then killed Antakasur with his trident (trishul). The blood that flowed from the demon was drunk by Mangal.

Interview with the Author of The Power and Intelligence of Karma and Reincarnation

Here is an interview with Dharma, the author of the book titled “The Power and Intelligence of Karma and Reincarnation” 1) How is Karma and Reincarnation helpful in a world that is heading towards intolerance? Two great evils - Hell and Heaven - the concept of Hell makes God a torturer. The concept of Heaven has been used to lure people into religion and preach hatred against those who do not believe. We have the concept of Heaven to thank for Terrorism today - young, impressionable minds brainwashed into thinking that they will get paradise if they kill "enemies" - these "enemies" include innocent women, children and even babies! Reincarnation puts a stop to these concepts - one dies, one comes right back - this is ALL there is. 2) The ultimate aim as per Hinduism the point of no return – merging with the Supreme Soul (Brahman) so that there is no more birth. How will reincarnation help in this? I don't see the ultimate aim being a point of no

Bell or Ghanta in Hinduism – The ringing of bell during Hindu Puja at home and temples

Bell or Ghanta is an indispensable part in most Hindu pujas. Ghanta is sounded before the actual puja and worship begins. A well-designed Ghanta or bell produce long strains of the sound ‘OM.’ A bell is rung in a Hindu temple, during the waving of light in front of the deity, while bathing the deity and while offering food. Hindu devotees on entering the temple also hit the ghanta hanged in front of the sanctum sanctorum. The most widespread belief is that the ghanta is sounded to invite the deity to accept the worship and prayers. Another belief is that it is to drive away the evil forces. The sound made from a well-designed Ghanta is uninterrupted, reverberating, deep and sonorous. Symbolically, the body of the bell represents time – Ananta. The tongue of the bell symbolically represents Goddess Saraswathi. The handle of the Ghanta is considered to be the vital principle (Prana Shakti) and symbolically represents Hanuman , Garuda, Nandi or Chakra. The bell wit

Premortem – Envisioning What Could Go Wrong in Advance

Premortem is going through all things that might go wrong in future in regard to a project, study, idea, business, relationship that is yet to be executed. This envisioning should not be a negative thinking. It should be positive. It should be to make sure that the project is a success. By getting an idea about things that could go wrong or will go wrong, we can avoid them. Even if we cannot avoid them, we can easily identify what went wrong after implementation. Quite often we are not ready to accept the fact that everything might not go exactly as we wish. So doing an analysis of why the project failed even before its execution will help us in developing a back up plan. There are several preventable reasons which we ignore while starting a new project by doing a premortem we can easily find and mitigate such issues. Applying this in a relationship will help us in having a smooth rapport. By Hindu Blog