Hinduism - Healthy Pages Forum

Anandamayi Ma

Treetop — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 23:19:09 +0000

I never heard of her beyond Paramahansa Yogananda mentioning their meeting. He believed she was a living goddess. She reminds me of one of those beautiful hippies from the Woodstock Music Festival. I am now reading this biography of her and wished I had met her as she only just died in the 1980s. So amazing. I would love to sit in the presence of someone like her and feel the vibes! http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Sri-Anandamayi-Ma-Teaching/dp/1933316411/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289258064&sr=1-1

The Sadhu

Principled — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:17:29 +0000

This is for Barafundle (and of course anyone else who enjoys it!) The thread it originally was mentioned on has moved forward, so thought I'd bring it here. It would be great to hear of anyone else's similar experiences. The precise details are a bit hazy. I was hoping that my friend who took Edward's funeral would have kept her notes, but anyway, here goes: Edward was brought up in Burma. At the beginning of the war (WWII) his mother and sister were evacuated to India. Don't ask me where his father was! Edward was called up to fight the Japanese but became very ill with malaria, which kept repeating. After the war, he had lost touch with his mother and sister and was still very ill and weak, but decided to go to India to try to trace them. He met a Sadhu. We think it was on a train. The Sadhu told him two things. First, that he was about to learn about something absolutely wonderful which would change his life and secondly that he was to go to a certain place at a certain time (I seem to recall it was two weeks later) where he would meet his mother and sister. The predictions came true. Edward learnt about Christian Science, he was permanently cured of the malaria and it changed his whole life. Then he went to the town he was told to go to, to the exact spot, on the day, at the time and there were his mother and sister! Can you imagine the joyful reunion? Isn't that wonderful? Love and peace, Judy

Obama celebrates Diwali

sunanda — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:29:47 +0000

I found it really heartwarming that Barack Obama celebrated Diwali in the White House yesterday. http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/16/stories/2009101650070100.htm I can't imagine Bush doing that. xxx

Navratri

sunanda — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:22:28 +0000

There hasn't been a post here on the Hinduism forum for some considerable time. So it behoves me to let everyone know that we are in the middle of a special festival called Navratri, or Nine Nights of the Goddess (actually ten nights but that's the way these festivals go.) This is celebrated all over India and Nepal, but in slightly different ways. I expect there is an old thread about it somewhere on this forum (I'll have a look in a minute; I do remember talking with Prashna about it and relaying my disappointment at the Kali puja I attended last year in North London.) This time around I found a temple not far from my home which is Tamil - the kind of temple I'm more familiar with - and I went to the first night puja on Saturday evening and was made most welcome. The festival mainly celebrates the victory of the Goddess Durga over the buffalo demon, Mahishasura, but over the course of the nine nights She is worshipped in all her many forms, particularly as Kali (the destroyer of ego), Laksmi (the goddess of wealth and abundance) and Saraswati (the goddess of learning.) Right at the end machinery and household equipment is blessed (that includes things like washing machines, fridges and computers!) and children place their school equipment on the altar so that too may be blessed. Here's a nice simple link. And here's a beautiful image of Mahalaksmi - it's her time right now, so may we all welcome abundance into our hearts and our lives. The other pic is of a wall hanging that a friend gave me which depicts Durga killing the buffalo demon.990.vB Jai Ma!

Book on Hinduism

happygirl — Sun, 31 May 2009 16:39:15 +0000

I was wondering whether anyone could recommend a book about the basic tenets of Hinduism. I know very little and a lot of stuff I've read seems to be confusing - so perhaps it would be better to start with something at the beginning !! :eek: Many thanks. :)

My Visit To A Hindu Temple

Angel — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:30:58 +0000

Hiya everyone Not really asking anything, but just wanted to day, I visted a Hindu Temple/ resource centre with my son and his class today and I have to say it was AWESOME. The temple was so bright and cheerful, the marble altar was beautiful with many of the deities on it. The children in the class behaved so well and were drawn to the whole thing, it was like they were enchanted. The preist and president were in the middle or a morning worship when we arrived, I would of loved to of sat through a full service. It just felt so peaceful. I must admit, after been in a Church and now a temple, the temple really does feel so much more uplifting. We also learnt a simple song with the words Hari Krishna in it, wonder if anyone could enlighten me to what it was. The President did mention that the Beatles sang it, but the Beatles were before my time. Angel x

Gayatri Mantra

dip into healing — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:24:00 +0000

Namaste :043:, Does anyone have an easy to understand English translation of the Gayatri Mantra please? Also the meaning of Om. Thanking you :) xx

Krishna:'zorba the buddha'.

niranjan100 — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:51:05 +0000

Krishna,if you view his life in general, is a far cry from the other prophets like Buddha, Mahavira, Muhammad ,Jesus, Moses who lived an austere life of self-denial. The charecterestic of Krishna's life is his many-sidedness. He was great as a musician, as a scholar,as a yogi, as a dancer, as a poet, as a soldier, as an administrator, as a philosopher and spiritual master, and as a gentleman. Krishna , through out his life was known for his cheerfulness and his funloving nature and mischief . He stole the butter and ghee of the gopis, teased them and flirted with them, stole their clothes while they were bathing, sang songs in the moonlight(which he loved) and danced with them. He was also known for his sense of humour and cracked jokes spontaneously. Can you imagine the Buddha dancing gaily with young women, or Jesus playing a flute or Muhammad singing songs in praise of nature and life or Moses cracking jokes? And even though Krishna's life was a tragedy, he always faced life with non-attachment and equanimity, and a perpetual cheerful smile in his face to the very end. As Osho says in his classic "Krishna :The man and his philosophy", Krishna represents a new order of humanity; Krishna combined in himself the spiritual charecterestics of Buddha, and the materialistic charecterestics of Zorba the Greek. He was himself steeped in non-attachment,yoga, equanimity of mind, spirituality and at the same time he enjoyed life to the maximum.He was in short Zorba the Buddha. Krishna was the personification of his teaching,"The wise man is he who is intensely peaceful in the midst of intense action, and intensely active in the midst of intense peace." Sri Dutta Gurumali, an Indian spiritual master, has stated that Kriishna was the greatest yogi the world has ever known, and the greatest bhogi(enjoyer of life) too that the world has ever known, in the last 5000 years. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, an Indian enlightened master, and who is the creator of the Art of Living Foundation , bases his institutions philosophy on this trait of Krishna, and has stated "God loves fun." We all don't need to be staunch followers of Krishna, but let us assimilate this beautiful trait of Krishna, namely 'Zorba the Buddha.' :)

The avatars of Vishnu, Darwinism and evolution.

niranjan100 — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:49:33 +0000

The famous scientist , J B S Haldane, who gave up his British citizenship and became an Indian and settled in Calcutta, observed that the Dasavataras are a true sequential depiction of the great unfolding of evolution. If you analyse the avatars of Vishnu , you can observe an uncanny similarity to the biological theory of evolution of life on earth. The first avatar of Vishnu is Matsya or fish.( According to science, life originated in water). The second avatar of Vishnu is Kurma or tortoise.( the evolution of the fish to the amphibean tortoise) The third avatar of Vishnu is Varaha or the boar. ( the evolution of the amphibean to the strictly land animal). The fourth avatar of Vishnu is Narasimha or the man-lion. ( the evolution of the land animal to a humanoid form with animalistic charecterestics ). The fifth avatar of Vishnu is Vamana or dwarf ( the evolution of the animal-man to purely human in dwarf form). The sixth avatar of Vishnu is Parashurama ( the evolution of the dwarf to a physically well-developed and ferocious warrior). The seventh avatar of Vishnu is Rama ( the evolution of the ferocious warrior to Rama, who is considered as the ideal man or the maryada purushottama and the embodiment of morality , ethics and righteousness). The eighth avatar of Vishnu is Krishna ( the evolution of Rama , the ideal man to Krishna who is considered as the ideal yogi, the superman who is known for his manysidedness and allrounded character , as I mentioned in the thread 'Krishna : Zorba the Buddha'.) The animal evolution and development connotations bear striking resemblances to the modern scientific theory of Evolution.

Ganesha's Birthday

tigress — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:40:54 +0000

Ganesha's Birthday

September 3rd :Happy Birthday Ganesha The Sanskrit word for Ganesha means one who is the Isha (Lord) of the Ganas (Angelic army). According to spiritual teacher Siva Baba Ganesha's special powers include the following: He removes obstacles in all areas of life. It is important to enlist his help whether you go on a date or go to the court or sign a contract, etc. He removes malefic effects from planets including Saturn. He is a great strategic planner. He finds lost things. Any new venture needs Ganesha's blessing to begin successfully. He is the God of education, knowledge, wisdom, literature, and the fine arts. Ganesha is also the destroyer of vanity, selfishness and pride. He bestows clear passage, trouble-free endeavours and easy attainment of wealth as he is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. Ganesha reveals himself in multiple forms:a warrior, a charmer, wealth giver, obstacle remover, etc. tigress .