Sahadeva is one of the Pandava brothers in the Mahabharata. He is the son of Queen Madri and is counted as the fifth of the Pandavas – Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. He was the wise man among the five Pandavas and he was the twin brother of Nakula. Here are some unknown facts about Sahadev. He was the youngest of the Pandavas. He had the special skill of knowing the past and future. Before Yudhishthira became king of Indraprastha, a Rajasuya Yajna was conducted, Sahadeva travelled to the south of the country before the yajna and defeated Dantavakra associated with Jarasandha, Srenima, Vinda and Anuvinda, the brothers of Avanti and Nila of Mahishmati in the deepest south of Bharata Varsha. He brought huge treasures from the South thus making the new kingdom, Indraprastha, rich.  It is said that Vibheeshana of Ramayana was a chiranjeevi and he was still ruling Lanka when Sahadeva travelled to the south before Rajasuya Yajna. Sahadeva wanted to invite

The human personality is itself a ratha, which is on a yatra from beginningless time. The Katha Upanishad describes the ratha as comprise of the body, sense organs, mind, intellect and the soul. Ratha (chariot) symbolism in Hinduism is mainly found in the Upanishads. The Atman is the master of the chariot, the body is the chariot, intelligence is the charioteer, diversified mind is the reins, sense organs are the horses and sense objects are the roads along which this chariot is driven. But why should the ever perfect and ever free Atman have the need to go anywhere? Lord Yama tells Nachiketa in Katha Upanishad that the journey is made by the Atman when it is conditioned by identification with the ratha. When so conditioned, the Atman is called jivatman. Liberation from this conditioning is the goal of human life. And the journey towards liberation begins when the senses are restrained from traveling towards the sense objects, the mind is made one-pointed, and the inte

Punyahavachanam is a purification ceremony. It is performed on the eleventh, thirteenth, fifteenth or sixteenth day after the birth of a child. It is also performed before an important event or after an untoward incident. It mainly involves sprinkling of purificatory water.  These are the following steps in Punyahavachanam: Vighneswara Puja – Worshipping of Ganesha Kalasha Puja – Worship of Kalash – worshiping the water in sacred pot which will be used for Punyahavachanam Dhupa and Deepa – offering the incense and the light with wicks dipped in ghee. This is offered to the water in sacred pot. The pot is then worshipped with flowers. The pot is then worshipped with camphor In the final step, water is sprinkled on the heads of the performer, people present and on all auxiliary objects.

There are many devotees who are mere fortune seekers. Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj talked about them in 12th century and it is highly relevant in the current situation. He reaches the height of happiness when he gets the thing he likes and he sinks due to sorrow when he gets what he does not like. One who worries because of favorable and unfavorable circumstances, however highly intelligent he may be, is in reality an ignorant person. He is devoted to me (Vishnu) but that devotion is with a material objective in mind. He makes a show of my devotion but keeps his sights on pleasures. If he does not get them after being devoted to me, then he gives up the devotion saying that the talk of God etc. is all lies. Like an ignorant peasant he sets up different deities and after failing with one he goes to the next. He joins that Guru tradition where there is a great pomp and show, receives Guru-mantra from him and considers others as ordinary. He behaves cruelly with living creatures