Nandi, the happy one, – the bull on which Lord Shiva rides – represents virility and strength, the animal in man. In Shiva temples, there is always a reclining bull placed in front of the chief shrine or just outside it, with the head turned away from the deity but the gaze fixed on it. It is interpreted as the Jivatman, the individual soul, with its animal nature pulling it away from God, but His grace pulling it back to him.
Swami Harshananda
(Source: Principal Symbols of World Religion by Swami Harshananda)
Some Other Teachings From Hindu Religion
Religion is not the destination but just a path
All religions, including Hinduism, are mere roadways for making spiritual progress; they are not the destination. We mistake the roadways for the destination and create confusion. If the roadways are viewed as the destination, automatically we elevate them to an absolute status. Then by default our roadway, or our religion, becomes the one and only way. Even though we may not say so, through this error, we undermine all other religions.
Jay Dilip Lakhani – Vivekananda Center , London
(Source: The Vedanta Kesari, December, 2006, Article – A fresh look at Interfaith Relationships.) The Vedanta Kesari is published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai
Poem by Vidyapati on Radha’s wait for Krishna
Her tears carved a river
And she broods on its bank,
Hurt and confused.
You ask her one thing,
She speaks of another.
Her friends believe
That joy may come again.
At times they banish hope
And cease to care.
And she broods on its bank,
Hurt and confused.
You ask her one thing,
She speaks of another.
Her friends believe
That joy may come again.
At times they banish hope
And cease to care.
O Madhava,
I have run to call you.
Radha each day
Grows thinner
Thinner than the crescent in the sky...
I have run to call you.
Radha each day
Grows thinner
Thinner than the crescent in the sky...
Vidyapati
Source Poem: Thinner than the crescent in the sky by Vidyapati (1374-1460)
Words of Wisdom from Poems of Mira Bai
Life waxes and wanes imperceptibly,
it does not stay long.
The leaf that has once fallen
does not return to the branch.
Behold theOcean of Transmigration
with its swift, irresistible tide.
The leaf that has once fallen
does not return to the branch.
Behold the
with its swift, irresistible tide.
We do not get a human life
just for the asking.
Birth in a human body
is the reward for good deeds
in former births.
just for the asking.
Birth in a human body
is the reward for good deeds
in former births.
Mira Bai