The poem, Brahma by Ralph Waldo Emerson, shows a strong influence of Hinduism, particularly Advaita on Ralph Emerson. First Verse If the red slayer think he slays,Or if the slain think he is slain,They know not well the subtle waysI keep, and pass, and turn again. In describing atman, Adi Shankara sings in Nirvana Shatakam […]
In pursuit of the ultimate goal of realization it is natural to stumble upon multiple “why”s in the journey. The “Why?” in philosophy can take multiple forms. At the mundane level there are questions like – Why is someone more successful than me? Why am I not lucky? Why do problems always find me?… At […]
So far, we have looked at many classic Advaitic examples. The first blog on “illusions” makes us aware that what we see and experience is not the ultimate reality. The second blog on “cause” shows a material cause behind creation, leading to the dualistic schools of philosophies. The third blog, combines “illusions” and “cause” to […]
The blog, classic advaitic examples – illusion and cause, combines the examples of the previous two blogs “illusions” and “cause“. We can use the “clay and clay pot” example to walk through the four stages of Advaitic philosophy. Stage 1 – There is a Clay Pot The “clay pot” refers to all our experiences. In […]
In the first part of this series we looked at examples that highlight illusion. In this blog, classic advaitic examples – cause, we look at examples that focus on the cause behind what we observe. The idea is that there is a cause behind anything we see or experience and the goal is to seek […]
The general purpose of philosophy is to understand what we see and experience. We see the world and wonder how it was created. We wonder why there are so many differences in the world. Finally, we see and experience our body and mind, but want to understand the spirit behind them. Classic Advaitic examples help […]
There are 27 nakshatras in vedic astrology. They start with Ashwini and end with Revati. The characteristics allude to a correlation between the nakshatras and the cycle of life. Ashwini to Krittika Ashwini represents energy and conception. The Ashwini Kumaras are the celestial doctors. Life starts out as energy and the doctors are the first […]
Why should someone study vedic astrology? Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra answers this question. Maitreya is the student and Maharishi Parashara is the teacher. The student prostrates before the teacher and asks to learn Jyotish, with the desire to answer the following questions – How is the Universe created? How does this creation end? What is […]
The most feared transit in vedic astrology is that of Shani (Saturn). Shani gives bad results when it transits houses 1, 2, 4, 8, and 12 houses from the Moon. Shani gives good results when it transits houses 3, 6, and 11 from the Moon. Shani’s transit is neutral in the other four (5, 7, […]
Today is Ganesh Chaturthi and it got me thinking about why we call Lord Ganesha the remover of obstacles. Lord Ganesha’s life is full of examples in which a difficult problem is solved by a seemingly impossible solution. Here are some examples from the life of Lord Ganesha. Conception of Lord Ganesha Conception – the […]