The navaratri season is in full swing. The festival respects and worships the female form. Navaratri lasts for nine days and families worship Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati, 3 days each. Families pray to the devine godesses to grant wealth and prosperity. In that context, what wealth are they referring to? The first thing that comes […]
The navagraha gayatri mantras are used to meditate on the nine grahas in vedic astrology. These mantra are easy to memorize because they are similar in structure. The navagraha gayatri mantras have three lines each. The first two lines focus on aspects of the graha (god). The last line indicates the graha. The first line […]
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 […]
Puja (prayer) is often cited as the first step in one’s spiritual journey. Adi Sankara understood in the 8th century AD that people’s life was becoming very hectic. They did not have the time to perform the rituals associated with puja in Hinduism. Therefore, he composed “Shiva Manasa Puja” to give everyone a way to […]
It is good to carve out some time every day for some simple Hindu prayers. The idea is to find ways to reduce the amount of time the mind spends on mundane thoughts. Prayers are mentioned as a good first step towards self realization in the Upadesa Saram by Sri. Ramana Maharishi. He goes on to say […]
Animals and birds play a prominent role in Hinduism. For example, every god uses an animal as their mode of transportation. The vehicle and the god form an interdependence. The animal helps the god perform his or her duties more effectively. For example, the bull is Shiva’s “vahana”. The bull represents strength and therefore adds to Shiva’s strength. […]